BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: This week: the Iowa caucuses. The two winners, Illinois senator Barack Obama and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, both talked openly about their faith, and our managing editor Kim Lawton says both men had an active faith-based outreach strategy.

Kim, welcome. Let's start with Obama. To what extent did religion play a role in his campaign?

KIM LAWTON: It played a huge role and one that I think is not widely acknowledged. He had a very active effort to court people of faith, including some of those evangelical voters. He held a series of faith forums across Iowa. A lot of times he didn't personally show up. His campaign had these meetings for people of faith, so it was under the radar partly because he wasn't there, but he brought people together to talk about social justice and moral issues. His campaign, actually on the Web site, had a phone number that the week before the Iowa caucuses every day people could call at 8:30 in the morning and pray for Barack Obama's campaign there. So it was very intense and very targeted.

ABERNETHY: And Huckabee got a big amount of support from evangelicals. Let me ask you this: when an evangelical Christian goes to a caucus and votes for, stands up for Huckabee, thinks about voting for Huckabee, what does that person see in him?

Ms. LAWTON: Well, you never know what voters see, but certainly Huckabee positioned himself as the Christian candidate. Now, that could have been a slight swipe against Mitt Romney, the Mormon candidate, who really challenged him there. And Huckabee said I'm the Christian candidate, you know, maybe saying hey, I share your values as an evangelical, as a Southern Baptist minister. Mitt Romney did reach out to evangelicals, but Huckabee was ultimately more successful. He talked a lot about convictions, and I think there was an appeal to character that really resonated with the evangelicals there.

ABERNETHY: And Clinton and Edwards in Iowa?

Ms. LAWTON: In Iowa, they didn't have as strong of a faith-based outreach. Certainly it was there. Hillary Clinton's campaign does have a faith and values strategy. It's been a little more active in South Carolina than it was in Iowa, and I think that that's going to come into play for her, coming up in South Carolina.

ABERNETHY: And what role will religion play, do you expect, in New Hampshire?

Ms. LAWTON: Well, certainly for Mike Huckabee New Hampshire's a different state than Iowa. There aren't as many evangelical voters there, so he's going to have to broaden his appeal. He's also going to have to be prepared for scrutiny of some of his recent -- not so recent statements, but statements and sermons he made as a Southern Baptist minister. You say certain things as a pastor you may not say as a politician, and I think he going to get scrutinized for that, and he's going to have to show that he can be a candidate for people of faith beyond evangelicals. Barack Obama's going to have to keep up his momentum in the faith community in the face of challenges that Hillary Clinton plans to mount.