However, Edwards' campaign will lease office space in the state, and his staff will be free to eat at restaurants and stay in hotels, campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said.
Edwards, who is from neighboring North Carolina, will stay withfriends while campaigning in South Carolina, Palmieri said.
"The senator, out of respect for the NAACP, wanted topersonally honor the boycott," Palmieri said. "But we have andwill be spending money in the state."
Some South Carolina Republicans have criticized Edwards asflipping on the issue.
State Sen. John Courson, R-Columbia, who crafted the initiallegislation that led to the Confederate flag's removal from theStatehouse dome, said Edwards "has had almost every positionpossible on this issue."
"It can only make you wonder what John Edwards' position on theboycott or any other issue will be the next time he visits ourstate," Courson said.
But James Gallman, president of the South Carolina NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People, said he does notthink Edwards is backpedaling on the issue.
"We appreciate that Senator Edwards stood up and said that theflag belongs in a museum and that he has chosen to honor thesanctions by staying in private residences," Gallman said. "Fromthe beginning of the boycott, there were guidelines that allowedfor groups to conduct essential business in South Carolina and werealize to run an effective campaign there will be spending in thestate. And we do not see that as flipping on the issue."
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