But also like most of the the other presidential hopefuls, Edwards plans to keep a presence on the airwaves in the crucial primary and caucus states.

On Sunday, Edwards began running new TV ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, asking people to remember that one out of every four homeless people is a veteran and that 37 million Americans live in poverty.

The 30-second ad combines the holiday spirit and a central message of the Edwards campaign. The ad asks Americans to remember the homeless veterans and the poor.

"Who speaks for them? We do," the ad says. "This is the season of miracles, of faith and love. So let us promise together, you will never be forgotten again."

The early primary season has put candidates in a bind on how to campaign at a time when most voters are focused on celebrating.

Edwards is scheduled to resume campaigning the day after Christmas.

Getting a lock on North Carolina

All across Iowa last week, the name of former Republican U.S. Sen Lauch Faircloth of Clinton was butchered.

In introducing Edwards, Roxanne Conlin, a prominent Des Moines attorney, noted that Edwards was the only Democratic presidential candidate to have won in a so-called red state.

"He beat Lauch Faircloth -- where do they get these names?" Conlin said in Le Mars, Iowa.

In Sioux City, Conlin said Edwards had defeated "Lauch Faircloth -- I'm not making that up."

In each case, Conlin mispronounced Faircloth's name as "Launch." The correct pronunciation is "Lock."

Edwards unseated Faircloth in the 1998 U.S. Senate race in North Carolina.

Edwards often asserts that he defeated "the Jesse Helms machine" in beating Faircloth, which is not quite accurate. Faircloth had been recruited to run for the Senate in 1992 by the Helms organization.

The Helms political organization disbanded in 1996, although Faircloth had the help of several Helms veterans in his campaign.

Hoyle running again

State Sen. David Hoyle will run for re-election.

Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat, said late last week that he will run for a ninth term.

"I had considered retiring at the end of my current term to spend more time with my business and my family," Hoyle said in a statement. "However, there are many unfinished issues that I have been deeply involved with -- such as education, transportation and economic growth -- that I cannot abandon."

'There were a lot of pony tails in there.'

- MSNBC 'Hardball' host Chris Matthews, noting the seemingly liberal members of the crowd at a Lebanon, N.H., rally for Edwards