HONOLULU -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is in Hawaii visiting his sick grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, 85, who helped raise him.

She turns 86 on Sunday.

Shortly after his jet arrived at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, a motorcade took the Hawaii-born Democrat to Dunham's Beretania Street home. He spent an hour there before heading to a Waikiki hotel to spend the evening.

Obama will spend Friday with his grandma before leaving in the evening for the mainland. He is scheduled to appear in Reno, Nev., on Saturday.

The Illinois senator said he left the campaign trail with less than two weeks remaining before the election because his grandmother is ill but alert. Her brother has said she recently fell and broke a hip.

In an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," broadcast Friday, Obama said, "She's gravely ill. We weren't sure and I'm still not sure she'll make it to Election Day. We're all praying and we hope she does."

"One of the things I wanted to have a chance to sit down with her and talk to her. She's still alert and she still has all the faculties and I wanted to make sure that I don't miss that opportunity right now," Obama told " GMA."

Obama has said he missed a chance to visit his mother just before she died of ovarian cancer in 1995 at age 53, and he didn't want to repeat that mistake.

Obama will spend most of Friday with his grandmother before resuming his campaign Saturday in Nevada.

Meanwhile, his wife has been campaigning for him in Ohio.

Michelle Obama told an audience in Columbus that her husband isn't paying attention to favorable polls. She said he'll campaign like he's 20 points behind.

She's also urging supporters in the state to take advantage of early voting.

Political historians said it is the first time ever a presidential candidate has left the campaign trail so close to Election Day.