Talk About Bad Timing...

'Toot' voted absentee days before her death

(NEWSER) - Madelyn Dunham didn't live to see whether her grandson would become president, but ABC News reports that the absentee ballot of Barack Obama's grandmother will be counted. An elections official in Hawaii said that the ballot was received on October 27, meeting the requirements for a valid vote. Dunham died yesterday after a long battle with cancer, aged 86. More»

'Bittersweet' time for candidate who loses beloved relative as campaign ends

(NEWSER) - Tears rolled down Barack Obama's cheeks as he spoke at one of his last campaign rallies about his beloved grandmother, who died yesterday at the age of 86. "This obviously is a bittersweet time for me," Obama said. The candidate often credits his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham—whom he called "Toot"—as the woman who shaped his values, reports Reuters. More»

Madelyn Dunham passes away at 86 on eve of historic election

(NEWSER) - On the eve of Election Day, Barack Obama's maternal grandmother died today in Honolulu after a long struggle with cancer. Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise Obama, had been in hospice care, the Chicago Tribune reports. The senator and his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng released a statement calling their 86-year-old grandmother "the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility." More»

The '08 version redrew the political map and ruptured the financing system, and more

(NEWSER) - We can't be sure what kind of change the next president will bring, but we do know that presidential campaigns themselves will never be the same, writes Gerald F. Seib in the Wall Street Journal. Among this year’s innovations:

• The campaigns have redrawn the political map, making previously locked states competitive, like Virginia, and placing increasing emphasis on the Mountain West.

Charity employees are more likely to donate money to the left side of the aisle, study finds

(NEWSER) - People in the charitable world lean heavily Democrat and love Barack Obama, but try to keep their affiliation low-key to avoid insulting the other side, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. A new study shows that 88% of foundation worker donations went to Dems, enriching Obama's effort by $399,000 and John McCain's by $32,000. “There’s an overwhelmingly uniform personal ideology among this group,” said a director at the group doing the study. More»