SharePoint Server Search Error

In a new 2010 farm build a newly provisioned Search Service fails with the following event viewer details:

Level: Warning
Source: SharePoint Server Search
Event ID: 14
Task Category: Gatherer

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The start address http://xxx cannot be crawled.

Context: Application 'Search_Service_Application', Catalog 'Portal_Content'

Details: The crawler could not communicate with the server. Check that the server is available and that the firewall access is configured correctly. If the repository was temporarily unavailable, an incremental crawl will fix this error. (0x80041200)
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The farm consists of a single WFE and backend database.

I have tried the following troubleshooting steps:
1. Verified that the search service has full read in the Web App User Policy.
2. Logged into the site with the Search Service account on the WFE.

I am at a loss for what could be causing the crawl to fail.  Thank you for any advice.