The presidential primary candidates are trying to seal the deal in the early primary states, wandering through Iowa and New Hampshire on New Year's Eve in hopes of scoring a few last commitments ahead of the early voting.

The three Democratic front-runners appear to be trying to solidify votes rather than depress their opponents' turnout or peel off their support.  John Edwards is still fighting Barack Obama in trying to claim the "change" mantle while Hillary Clinton still is pushing her experience. Of course, implicit disagreements exist in all these arguments but no one advanced on the heavily defended battle lines of the others on Sunday.

On Monday, Obama's campaign released a powerpoint presentation that tried to demonstrate the differences in enthusiasm and cleanliness in the campaigns. Obama has argued that Edwards shouldn't be allowing special interest money, via 527 groups' uncoordinated ads, in Iowa. He noted that both Clinton and Edwards have been aided by more than $2 million apiece in 527 money while he has not benefited at all from outside resources.

In the presentation, the Obama campaign also:

- Touts attendance at Obama's events in several cities in Iowa with events held by his rivals;

- Looks at the campaign's strength in early states as far as field operation, poll numbers and endorsements;

- Tallies up the national organization and polling numbers; and

- Tries to expose weaknesses in Edwards due to spending contraints imposed by accepting matching federal funds. 

Clinton noted the rift between the Obama and Edwards campaigns, and suggested her best strategy would be to stay out of it.

"My two leading opponents are spending a lot of time right now talking about each other. I'm going to keep talking about the people of Iowa and the people of America, the people who need a president who will stand up for you, be there every single day for you," she said.

Click here to see video of Clinton discussing Edwards.

She stayed mostly out of the fray by focusing on her plans for the New Year, releasing a Web video outlining her plan to create universal health care, bring U.S. troops home and improve the economy.

That kind of talk has apparently earned her the support of Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, who added her name to Clinton's list of senators giving a formal endorsement. She becomes the 10th senator to lend her name to Clinton's campaign. Barack Obama has two endorsements from U.S. senators -- home state senior Sen. Dick Durbin and North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad. No other Democratic candidates have more than one senator apiece in their corner.

But Clinton may have a small squall to calm before the caucuses. Her campaign is being hit by Obama and Edwards for a remark by Clinton supporter, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who came out recently suggesting that Iowa's privileged first in the nation status should end.

Strickland was just with Clinton campaigning in Iowa Sunday. Iowans are very protective of their first in-the-nation caucuses, fighting so hard to maintain its predominance in this cycle that the state moved their caucuses up to Jan. 3 to remain first.

Candidates on both sides of the aisle are preparing to spend New Year's Eve in Iowa, with Bill and Hillary Clinton attending a "New Year, New Beginnings" party. Edwards is hosting a New Year's Eve party at his campaign office in Mason City.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee and John McCain are both attending year-end parties, in Iowa and New Hampshire respectively.

But asked about his New Year's Eve plan, Huckabee joked Monday that it wasn't going to be a late night. 

"I plan to go to sleep in 2007 and wake up in 2008,"  he said.

On that side of the contest, the bickering continues. Some effort had been made by Mitt Romney to moderate the tone after being accused of going negative by contrasting his positions to his rivals, but that effort seemed to break down on Monday.

Romney is issuing a new advertisement in the days before Iowans vote. The ad, being released Monday, is a "closing argument" to the people of Iowa. The campaign describes it as "all positive and forward looking."

Click here to see the Romney ad entitled "Everywhere."

Speaking in Bellevue, Iowa, Romney indirectly compared Huckabee to Bill Clinton. by describing the former Arkansas governor's guidelines for pardoning convicts and suggesting he would use the same methods as president. Without drawing a comparison, he then said Bill Clinton abused the pardon system, and when asked if he was trying to draw a parallel between the two, Romney denied it outright.

"As we all recognize one of the most significant and life changing powers of the president of the United States is to grant pardons and commutations, clemency is a very important topic. In the term of President Clinton I think that policy was used excessively and abused in some respects," Romney said, later adding, "I guess that if I were Governor Huckabee, I don't know that I'd be raising the issue of commutations and pardons. A record of 1,033 pardons and commutations, and so far as I know, without any guidelines, simply done on the basis of what he may have thought was appropriate. It's not a process which should be pursued nationally."

The Romney campaign was bracing for the release of a Huckabee ad midday Monday. The ad, cut Sunday, will "set the record straight" and push back aggressively against "Mitt's dishonesty," Huckabee campaign aides said.

But before its release, Huckabee decided to pull the ad from the rotation on Iowa television channels. The aborted counterattack ad was shown in a room full of reporters and posters on easels that contained quotes from Romney that Huckabee said would demonstrate the former Massachusetts governor's flip-flopping. The slogan "Enough is Enough" lined the room.

Huckabee said he is not going to rule out attacks after Iowa but wants to see how pulling this punch, in a way guaranteed to make news, is welcomed by voters. 

On Sunday, Huckabee hit Romney hard on morning news show "Meet the Press" and in comments to reporters later in the day in which he repeated his rhetorical question: "If a person is dishonest to get a job, do you believe that he will be honest if he gets the job?"

Romney focused a little more on McCain on Sunday, but without the anger that flashed a few days earlier,  calling him an "honorable man" who proves "that you can be honorable and be wrong" on immigration and President Bush's tax cuts.

McCain, who is closely trailing Romney in New Hampshire, seems headed towards an escalation, unveiling a new ad on ABC's "This Week."  The ad shows McCain speaking straight to the camera saying,  "I find it ironic Mitt Romney would attack me" on immigration when he previously "called my plan, quote, 'reasonable.'"  He later asserts "I'll always be straight with you." The ad has not yet been released.

Meanwhile, back in New Hampshire, Romney was barreling into coffee shops and community centers across the state Sunday with an unflappably sunny message of love for family and readiness to lead.  He also got a laugh from the crowd on Sunday night when he spoke about his attraction to his wife.

A man in the crowd at the Fuel and Nest coffee shop yelled out after Ann Romney spoke: "She's cuter than you are."

Romney answered, "That's not saying much. She's a cute girl. She's hot too." He then licked his finger and made a sizzling noise.

On Monday, the Romneys spoke at a pizza place, where he positioned himself as the underdog.

"When I got going in this campaign I think 5 or 6 percent of folks in Iowa had heard of me and thought they might support me and now it looks like I'm in a pretty good position to take this whole thing," he said. "It's getting real close. ... The whole nation is watching."

The Romneys were introduced  by former Colorado Rep. Bob Beauprez, who said "character matters" and the Romneys pass the "next door neighbor" test. He said he was proud of the Republican field, but Romney stood out.

When talking about experience, he said Romney "was to business what Elvis is to music. He's a rock star!"

Rudy Giuliani was in New Hampshire Sunday and tried to turn what appears to be passivity into a strength saying, "We're not involved in the back and forth about criticism of each other. I kind of like that ...  I don't think that's the best way to win a Republican primary."

His campaign issued a strategy memo on Monday that said he is convinced his strategy is the right one for winning the Republican nomination and noted that the Feb. 5 primary day is much bigger than previously held primary votes so new thinking is required to manage the new schedule.

"For the record, only 78 delegates will be picked prior to Florida, whereas 1,039 delegates will be picked on Jan. 29 and Feb. 5. Additionally, it's important to note that voting has already started in Florida, Missouri, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and New York -- tens of thousands of people will have already cast their ballot by the time you are reading this note. ... All of this points to the folly of over-estimating the impact of the results of Iowa and New Hampshire," the memo reads.

FOX News' Carl Cameron, Aaron Bruns, Mosheh Oinounou, Malini Bawa, Serafin Gomez and Shushannah Walshe contributed to this report.