In a sad turn of events, presidential hopeful Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, passed away from cancer [1] less than 24 hours before her grandson could be elected president. Obama visited his grandmother [2], whose nickname was “Toot,” last week, taking a break from his schedule of heavy campaigning.
Although it's too soon to determine the blogosphere's reaction, the Twittersphere was fast to jump on the story, sharing news articles and offering condolences to Barack and the rest of his family. Many Twitterati were at first shocked.
doshdosh [3] was among those taken by surprise [4]:
Canadian 
[5]
Upon hearing the news, Canadian resident _romi [6] was disappointed [7] for Obama:
[8]
Malagasy lrakoto [9] was also sad [10] for Obama:
[11]
_romi responded [12]:
[13]
Kenyan afromusing [14] offers her condolences [15] as well:
[16]
Few Twitterati have expressed anything but sympathy, however, Canadian michelleblanc [17] suspects [18] this may have an effect on voters:
[19]
Translation:
Sad to say but the death of Obama's grandmother could bring more than sympathy votes
Spanish iescolar [20] also suspects [21] an Obama sweep:
Translation:
Obama's grandmother just passed away. He's going to sweep the board!
A final offer of condolences comes from lrakoto, in Malagasy:
[22]
Or in other words, “condolences and farewell to ‘Toot!'”