Obama In Hawaii Spending Time With Ailing Grandmother

October 24, 2008 12:05 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) arrived in Hawaii on Friday to visit his seriously ill grandmother.

The Democratic presidential candidate announced on Tuesday that he would leave the campaign trail late this week because his 85-year old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, whom he calls "Toot," became gravely ill.

Obama, who was raised by his grandmother until he left for college, told CBS on Thursday he didn't get to be by his mother's side when she died, and that he didn't want to make the same mistake.

"My grandmother's the last one left," he said on the 'Early Show.' "She has really been the rock of the family, the foundation of the family."

He said he "got there too late" when his mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995.

"You know, I mean, it was sort of like this, in the sense that she had a terminal illness. We knew she wasn't doing well, but you know, the diagnosis was such that we thought we had a little more time and we didn't. And so I want to make sure that I don't make the same mistake twice," he said.

Before flying to Hawaii late Thursday, he gave his last interview, with ABC's for 'Good Morning America.'

"I want to give her a kiss and a hug. And then we're going to find out what chores I can do, because I'm sure there's been some stuff that's been left undone," he said.

Obama returns to the campaign trail on Saturday with a rally in Reno, Nevada.