LAWTON: Another key task will be expanding the outreach efforts begun by Vanderslice, an evangelical Christian whose only previous campaign experience was working for Howard Dean during the primaries. Her job at the Kerry campaign was to mobilize people of faith at the grassroots level. No Democratic presidential campaign had ever tried such an effort.

Ms. VANDERSLICE: We started with no lists, with no infrastructure to reach out to the faith community for the Democratic Party, and we've really started to create one now.

Mr. MCCURRY: It was a fledgling effort. It's something that for a national Democratic campaign was rather new, and certainly a lot of good lessons [were] learned that we can build on.

LAWTON: The team developed a "People of Faith" space on the official campaign Web site. They recruited religious volunteers, published campaign literature, and facilitated local prayer-potluck gatherings. Some Democratic activists weren't sure what to make of the efforts. Colleagues referred to her as "the church lady." There was also internal resistance.

Ms. VANDERSLICE: It was a slow start. It was very new -- it's still new to many political operatives in the Democratic Party. And so there was some timidity around the language, around how to proceed. And I think even since the election, the party leadership has seen the truth in what we were saying all along.

LAWTON: Meanwhile, Vanderslice was sharply attacked by some conservative activists. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights issued a statement calling her "a twenty-nine-year-old ultra-leftist who consorts with anti-Catholic bigots." She calls the claims "outrageous."

Ms. VANDERSLICE: I think they -- the religious Right -- would have attacked anyone who signed up for this responsibility and this position. They believe that this is their territory, and it just showed how threatened they would be if the Democrats really started to make this a priority.

LAWTON: Vanderslice says the campaign did come to realize the importance of a religious grassroots strategy.

Ms. VANDERSLICE: By the end of the campaign we had full-time organizers in five of the key battleground states, and people out in the country said, "Where have you been? We've been waiting for you." I think the most important thing we've learned is we've barely scratched the surface. There is so much energy out in the country for finding a moral and religious voice as Democrats.

LAWTON: The Republicans out-organized them in many places, but Vanderslice points to Michigan as an example of Democratic success. The campaign crafted an aggressive Catholic-specific outreach strategy, complete with nuns running the phone banks. Kerry ending up winning the Catholic vote there, although he lost it nationwide.

Ms. VANDERSLICE: The religious community can be the conscience and the soul of the Democratic Party, and the more we bring that back in, I believe, the stronger our party will be, the better we'll be able to represent our positive vision for the future, and I think it'll help us start winning elections again.

LAWTON: And she says she's more committed than ever to convincing the Democratic Party. I'm Kim Lawton reporting.