Amid grief for his grandmother, Obama presses on
OBAMA | Amid grief for his grandmother, he presses on
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In what he called a "little bit of a bittersweet time," Barack Obama on Monday announced that his grandmother had died, the day before her grandson is likely to be elected president.
Obama got the news in Florida after 8 a.m. and plowed through a series of campaign stops, looking confident about the outcome against John McCain.
(AP)
Obama appeared to be tearing up as he recalled Madelyn Dunham. He said at a rally at the University of North Carolina that she was a "quiet hero." It was the last day of the campaign, which took him to red states he has a chance of turning blue -- Florida, North Carolina and Virginia -- before he returned to Chicago late election eve.
Obama flew to his native Hawaii to say farewell to his ailing grandmother on Oct. 23 and 24. He stayed with his grandparents for a time as a youth while his late mother was living in Indonesia.
Obama and his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who was at Dunham's side when she died in her sleep, jointly announced the death.
Obama's unique biography -- a black Kenyan father, a white Kansas mother, Dunham's daughter -- has been a central element of his drive for the White House. Obama talked about his grandmother at the top of a North Carolina rally, where the mist left by a heavy rainfall seemed to match his subdued mood.
"Some of you heard that my grandmother who helped raise me passed away this morning. She has gone home," Obama said to the hushed crowd. "I am not going to talk about it too long because it is hard."