CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The day before the presidential election, Sen. Barack Obama's grandmother, a woman he called "Toot" and someone who helped raised him, has died.

Obama's campaign reported the death of Madelyn Dunham, 86, this afternoon as he and the media traveling with him landed here for the second of two campaign rallies he has scheduled today.

Aides said the Democratic nominee learned of her death about 8 a.m. Eastern time and that she passed at her home in Honolulu between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern time.

Obama's grandmother, who had been gravely ill, was a rock of stability, giving him the American roots that would ground his teenage years as well as his career in politics....(CNN)