US:Barack Obama's wife will take his place at events, writes Denis Staunton, Washington Correspondent
BARACK OBAMA will leave the campaign trail today and fly to Hawaii to visit his grandmother, Madelyn Durham, who is seriously ill.
Campaign strategist Robert Gibbs said that Michelle Obama would appear in her husband's place at campaign events in Iowa and Wisconsin and that the candidate would return to campaigning on Saturday.
Ms Durham (85) played a central role in Mr Obama's upbringing and he praised her as a key influence his life in his convention speech in August.
"In the last few weeks, her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious," Mr Gibbs said.
"It is for that reason Senator Obama has decided to change his schedule on Thursday and Friday so that he can see her and spend some time with her."
With polls showing Mr Obama ahead both nationally and in the battleground states, his campaign yesterday offered a further indication of the Democrat's enormous financial advantage over John McCain.
Mr Obama spent $87.5 million last month and began October with nearly $134 million in the bank. Mr McCain, who cannot raise any more money because he accepted public campaign funds, entered this month with $47 million in the bank.
CNN television reported this week that the McCain campaign may withdraw from Colorado, a state President George Bush won in 2004.
Without Colorado, Mr McCain can only win the election if he picks up a big state John Kerry won last time, such as Pennsylvania, where polls suggest that Mr Obama enjoys a double-digit lead.
Mr Obama was in Florida yesterday, hosting an economic forum with the Democratic governors of four swing states - Ohio, Michigan, New Mexico and Colorado.
He linked Mr McCain to Mr Bush, accusing the Republican of offering nothing but wishful thinking and wilful ignorance on the economy.
"While President Bush and Senator McCain were ready to move heaven and earth to address the crisis on Wall Street, the president has failed so far to address the crisis on Main Street, and Senator McCain has failed to fully acknowledge it," Mr Obama said.
"Instead of common-sense solutions, month after month, they've offered little more than wilful ignorance, wishful thinking and outdated ideology."
Mr Obama said the Republican planned to give big business a tax break but offered little help for most Americans.
He claimed that Mr McCain's proposals would do nothing to revitalise the economy.
"It is the same failed politics of decrying greed on Wall Street one minute and then rewarding that greed the next minute with tax cuts for Wall Street corporations and CEOs," Mr Obama continued.
"It's the same failed philosophy: give more and more to those with the most and hope prosperity trickles down to everyone else.
"So we've seen what they offer, we've seen where it leads. This economic crisis is the final verdict on their failed leadership - and it's time for something new."
Mr McCain insisted yesterday that his campaign is about the economy, despite reports that his campaign believes he cannot win if that remains the central issue.
Mr McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin made foreign policy the focus of their main attack on Mr Obama yesterday, however, seizing on remarks by Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden at a Seattle fundraiser.
Mr Biden had said that, if Mr Obama was elected, there would be an international crisis to test the new president within six months.
"We don't want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars," Mr McCain told supporters in Pennsylvania.
"What is more troubling is that Senator Biden told their campaign donors that when that crisis hits, they would have to stand with them because it wouldn't be apparent Senator Obama would have the right response.
"Forget apparent. We know Senator Obama won't have the right response."
Campaigning in Nevada yesterday, Ms Palin wondered aloud about the "four or five scenarios" Mr Biden said he could foresee as tests for a newly elected Mr Obama.
"The real problem is that these warnings from Joe Biden are similar to his earlier assessment of Barack Obama.
"It wasn't so long ago that he said Barack Obama wasn't up to the job, and that, quote, 'the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training'," she said.
"The same Joe Biden said he would be honoured to run on the ticket with John McCain because, quote, 'the country would be better off' - and here we have some common ground."
Ms Palin continued: "I want a president who spent 22 years in uniform defending our country. I want a president who isn't afraid to use the word 'victory' when he talks about the wars we are fighting.
"I want a president who's ready on day one . . . I want John McCain as our commander-in-chief."