Obama to visit sick grandmother

US Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama is cancelling campaign events this week to visit his sick grandmother in Hawaii, an aide says.

The announcement came as Mr Obama made campaign stops in Florida, including a rare joint appearance with former rival Hillary Clinton.

In one speech he vowed to halt eviction of homeowners defaulting on mortgages.

Republican John McCain attacked his rival's economic policies, and vowed to take the country in a new direction.

Mrs Clinton urged voters to "close the deal for Barack Obama"

Campaigning in Missouri, another swing state, John McCain accused his Democratic rival of misleading the electorate by plotting to hike taxes.

"After months of campaign trail eloquence... we finally learned what Senator Obama's economic goal is... he wants to 'spread the wealth' around," Mr McCain said.

"If I'm elected president I won't raise taxes on small businesses, Senator Obama will and that will force them to cut jobs."

Mr McCain said he would tackle the housing crisis by "buying up bad mortgages and re-financing them" in order "to realise the American dream and keep people in their homes".

'Ugly' campaign

Mr Obama's campaign said the candidate would leave the campaign trail on Thursday to visit his maternal grandmother, 85-year-old Madelyn Dunham.

He is cancelling events in Des Moines, Iowa and Madison, Wisconsin for the visit.

The condition of Ms Dunham, who helped to raise her grandson, is not clear although aide Robert Gibbs said her health had deteriorated in recent weeks.

"Senator Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has always been one of the most important people in his life," Mr Gibbs said in a statement.

"Along with his mother and his grandfather, she raised him in Hawaii from the time he was born until the moment he left for college."

Mr Obama spent the day in Florida, accusing the Republican camp of "ugly" campaigning but said he would not be "distracted" by it.

He focused his attention on the economy and those in Florida who have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis and financial slowdown.

"We have tried it John McCain's way. We have tried it George Bush's way. It hasn't worked. It's time for something new," Mr Obama said.

'Town criers'

At one rally, Hillary Clinton joined her fellow Democrat on stage and urged the crowd of 50,000 supporters to "close the deal for Barack Obama".

"Sending the Republicans to clean up the economic mess in Washington is like sending the bull to clean up the china closet," she warned.

It was the first time the pair - who were bitter rivals in the Democratic primaries - had appeared together since July.

Mr Obama has been pushing early voting on a major scale, using speeches, e-mails and advertisements placed in popular video games.

Officials in Florida were expecting a busy day.

Thousands of Mr Obama's volunteers have been mobilised, including "town criers" riding on public buses, offering lifts to college students, and neighbourhood teams to give voters a push.

"There's too much at stake in this election to leave this responsibility to the last minute,'' said Steve Schale, Mr Obama's campaign director in Florida.

Meanwhile Mr McCain's campaign has opted to focus its efforts more selectively on supporters who do not always vote in presidential elections.

The party believes it can count on more reliable voters to get to the polls on 4 November, Rich Beeson, political director for the Republican National Committee, told the Associated Press news agency.

About a third of US electors in 2008 are expected to cast their vote early.

The process has grown in popularity in recent years, as people have become more familiar with it.

Early voting provisions have been expanded and restrictions on absentee ballots eased.

Registered voters can either cast their ballots in person or by mail, thus avoiding queues at polling stations on election day.