Wonder if Chris bothered to mention that when the baby Jesus was born, His mother and father were far from home, traveling to take part in a political process--the Roman census.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In Iowa, Dodd packs gifts for National Guard troops

CARROLL, Iowa - Most of the presidential candidates took a brief holiday break from Iowa, but Democrat Chris Dodd remained in the state and spent part of Christmas Eve packing items for National Guard troops.

The Connecticut senator and his wife, Jackie, joined local volunteers in a Carroll park to assemble the packages, which will be shipped to Iowa troops overseas.

Campaign spokeswoman Taylor West said Dodd has a tradition of taking part in such work during the holidays. "When he's in Connecticut, he always does service projects around the holidays, and he wanted to bring that tradition to Iowa," West said.

After assembling the packages, Dodd and his family were returning to their rented house in Des Moines to celebrate Christmas.

Dodd, who has moved his family to Iowa to focus on the state's leadoff precinct caucuses, was the only candidate with campaign events planned in the state yesterday or today. A flood of candidates will return tomorrow for a final sprint to the Jan. 3 caucuses.