Hawaii-born Sen. Barack Obama plans to return to Oahu late this week to spend a day with his gravely ill 85-year-old grandmother.

Obama, who is leading presidential rival Sen. John McCain in national polls, will take a nearly two-day break from campaigning less than two weeks before Election Day, Nov. 4.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday that Madelyn Payne Dunham, who helped raise Obama, was released from the hospital late last week. But he said her health had deteriorated “;to the point where her situation is very serious.”;

Her brother, Charles Payne, said in a telephone interview from his home in Chicago today that his sister, “;has not been well for a long time. Then she fell and broke her hip fairly recently.

“;She's unhappy with the condition that she's in, I can tell you that,”; Payne said.

Payne did not know which hip she broke. He said she had previously had a hip replacement, but he could not recall on which side.

Payne, 83, said he spoke to his sister briefly yesterday.

“;We had a short and as upbeat as possible conversation,”; said Payne, a retired university library administrator. “;She hated the hospital.”;

Payne said the two talked about family matters, but he declined to elaborate. He said they did not discuss the Illinois senator's campaign.

Payne declined to speculate on whether his sister had the strength to see her grandson through the election on Nov. 4.

“;I think, of course, it's been terribly important to her,”; he said. “;And she would like nothing better than to see that.”;

Payne said he is planning to fly here for Dunham's 86th birthday, which is Sunday.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercombie told the Star-Bulletin today that Dunham and Obama's half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng have already cast their votes via absentee ballot.

Abercrombie, who is in Fort Hood, Texas for tomorrow's departure ceremony as the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Brigade Combat Team heads to Kuwait, said Obama is “;coming home like any grandson because this is serious family business.”;

Obama last traveled to Oahu in August before the Democratic Party's national convention. The weeklong family vacation included numerous trips to his grandmother's Punahou-area apartment.

“;Senator Obama's grandmother Madelyn Dunham has always been one of the most important people in his life, along with his mother and his grandfather,”; Gibbs said. “;Recently his grandmother has become ill, and in the last few weeks her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious. It is for that reason that Sen. Obama has decided to change his schedule on Thursday and Friday so that he can see her and spend some time with her.”;

Obama's wife, Michelle, and two daughters will not be traveling to Hawaii this week.

Rallies scheduled in Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, Iowa, will be canceled, while Michelle Obama will fill in at events in Ohio.

Obama's Hawaii campaign officials confirmed the upcoming trip but said details were being handled by his campaign on the mainland.

Gov. Linda Lingle told reporters yesterday afternoon that she had just heard about Obama's trip back to Hawaii. “;It is for a very sad reason—his grandmother is ill,”; she said.

Citing the family's desire for privacy, Gibbs would not discuss the nature of Dunham's illness. It seemed likely that she was close to death, as Gibbs said that “;everyone understands the decision that Senator Obama is making.”; Dunham turns 86 on Sunday.

Obama, who calls Dunham “;Toot,”; short for “;Tutu,”; credits her with instilling him with the values she grew up with in small-town Kansas. Obama lived with her and his grandfather Stanley Dunham for several years while growing up on Oahu.

In a campaign ad this year, Obama described his grandmother as the daughter of a Midwest oil company clerk who “;taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland”;—things like “;accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated.”;

She's also the “;white grandmother”; he referred to in a speech on race.

Obama recognized Dunham when he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Denver.

“;She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well,”; he said.

Dunham, while now known as the grandmother of the historic Democratic candidate, made history of her own. In 1970, she and another woman were the first to rise to the rank of vice president at the Bank of Hawaii.