国际英语新闻：Obama takes break from campaign to visit sick grandmother

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- With no more than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election day of the United States, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is to take a two-day break from his campaign on Thursday to visit his grandmother who is badly sick now.

    According to Obama's campaign, the Illinois Senator would fly to Honolulu, Hawaii, from a campaign stop in Indiana to visit Madelyn Dunham, a 85-year-old woman who raised Obama up since his Kenyan father deserted the family when he was young.

    "We knew that she wasn't doing well but, you know, the diagnosis was such where we thought we had a little more time and we didn't," said Obama in a CBS interview early on Thursday. "And so I want to make sure that I don't -- I don't make the same mistake twice."

    He referred to his mother's death of cancer before he could reach her bedside.

    "She has really been the rock of the family, the foundation of the family. Whatever strength, discipline that I have, it comes from her," Obama said of his grandmother.

    The candidate dismissed the risk of the break at the key moment before the election day to his bid for the White House, saying "most people understand that if you're not caring for your family, then you're probably not the kind of person who's going to be caring for other people."

    Amid the economic turmoil in the country, Obama has witnessed his lead expanding over his Republican presidential rival, John McCain, for he being more trustworthy in handling economic policies. However, the two are still running neck-and-neck in somekey battleground like Florida.

    Despite his brief leave from campaign trail, Obama will still appear in an ABC interview to be aired on Friday and tons of TV commercials before the weekend.

    His wife, Michelle, and vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, will stay in campaign.