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By now, we all know that Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee came out on top for their respective parties in the Iowa Caucuses. The Marketing Blurb blog speculates the caucuses serve more of a PR mechanism:

It seems to me that some work gets done at the Iowa Caucuses, but it's more of a PR mechanism than anything else giving candidates yet another opportunity to get their messages out to anyone who will listen.

Meanwhile, the media take a closer look at the messages delivered:

WSJ: Mr. Obama seemed to ride the wave of voters' desire for change, and Mr. Huckabee clearly appealed to the "values" voters who have long made up the GOP's core constituency.

ABCNews: ...the Republican contest was essentially about one thing: religion. Evangelical Christians accounted for a remarkable six in 10 GOP caucus-goers, and they favored Huckabee...That raises the question of how well Huckabee's appeal can travel. There are far fewer evangelicals in some other states, notably New Hampshire...

Reuters: Barack Obama said on Friday his message of hope and change resonated with young people and sparked record numbers to help propel him past front-runner Hillary Clinton to win Iowa's Democratic caucus.

TIME: We've got to start holding him [Obama] to the standard people hold her to," Clinton's chief strategist Mark Penn told reporters aboard the campaign's chartered jet to New Hampshire. "I think there's a basic choice between experienced leadership for change and inexperienced leadership that talks about change.

Huffington Post: In some ways, Iowa is a massive PR stunt. The candidates mobilize and push their people in. What's strange is that Clinton, other then her chatting staffers, didn't have more support. I heard everything from, "out with the old guard" to "she's to stern".

What say you, PR pros? Send us your comments and we'll add them to this and future posts.