postgres 9.0 - unable to bind to localhost.

Hi all:

Getting this error in the postgres logs:
2012-11-29 09:47:39.335 CST - SessionId:50b7839b.4791 - TransId:0 - LOG: could not translate host name "localhost", service "5435" to address: Name or service not known
2012-11-29 09:47:39.336 CST - SessionId:50b7839b.4791 - TransId:0 - WARNING: could not create listen socket for "localhost"
2012-11-29 09:47:39.343 CST - SessionId:50b7839b.4791 - TransId:0 - LOG: could not resolve "localhost": Name or service not known

Also the netstat command reveals the port(5435) is not bound to 127.0.0.1.
Checked the pg_hba.conf, /etc/hosts, nsswitch.conf, resolv.conf do not see any issues there.

the listen_addresses entry is like this:

listen_addresses = 'localhost,<host_ip>'

The port is bound to the <host_ip> but not to localhost.

How does postgres resolve the local host?

The entry is proper for localhost in /etc/hosts, and nsswitch.conf points hosts to files, dns.

"host localhost" resolves to 127.0.0.1 in command line.

what else to check?

Regards
J