Who Stepped Up:  No doubt that November elections for local office mean higher costs, new demands for broader advertising, and a lot more commotion on the ballot.

Some candidates, like Virginia Beach’s Scott Taylor, are banking on the Internet, email, and social media like Facebook and MySpace to replace the traditional advertising sources of television, radio, newspaper and mail. Someday that political tactic may work, but in 2008 it won’t.

That’s why Virginia Beach mayoral candidate Will Sessoms’ 8-page booklet, which was recently sent as a Virginian-Pilot insert, was a great political strategy.  Its execution wasn’t perfect, but the printed focus amid all the hype of the Internet and all the cost of television was sound.

Here’s why:

- Four years ago, 175,000 Virginia Beach voters went to the polls in November.  Political experts are projecting that number to climb as high as 200,000 this year.  There is no way the Internet reaches that broad a voter pool on the local level.  Website hits are nowhere near that.

- Internet usage is still low among older voters, your most reliable voters.

- Print advertising still works best in local politics.  Voters read newspapers and read those political mail pieces that flood mailboxes in November.  Those mailers build name ID in a cost-effective way that television can only do with repetition (meaning cost).

- The idea of an 8-page booklet is a smart political tactic.  It’s meant to be kept and not tossed like a single piece of political mail or a political ad in the daily newspaper.

All is not rosy with the strategy, though.  In delivering the insert as part of the newspaper, a booklet can get lost among the coupons and other countless ad booklets in a Sunday paper, and that is a real problem.  Better to invest in directly mailing it than take that chance.

Who Stepped In It: In her current political campaign, Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf launched an attack on her opponent, Will Sessoms, on a $10,000 campaign contribution from Amerigroup. Her shot didn’t stick, but it earned a scathing editorial from The Virginian-Pilot, whose endorsement may prove crucial in this race. The editorial board questioned her judgment in attacking a major employer to score political points.

Oberndorf’s miscue was in her political strategy, and it serves a good lesson to political consultants and political campaign managers.

Oberndorf has three opponents — Sessoms, John Moss and Scott Taylor. Multiple-person political races are worlds different from one-on-one races.

Sessoms, the city’s former vice mayor, has raised almost half-a-million dollars and has been advertising for weeks. His name ID will be sky-high come Election Day. The last thing Oberndorf should do is give Sessoms more attention, and name ID, with careless political tactics.

Here’s why:

- Oberndorf benefits from higher vote totals for Moss and/or Taylor because they’ll be pulling away anti-incumbent votes from Sessoms.

- Moss and Taylor are mostly absent from the airwaves and the newspapers. Oberndorf needs them in the media so their name ID rises quickly.

- By attacking Sessoms, Oberndorf makes the race seem like a two-person race, which is exactly opposite of what she needs. It perfectly suits Sessoms needs.

- Moss and Oberndorf served on City Council together. There should be plenty for Oberndorf to say about Moss. A tactical attack on Moss would raise Moss’ visibility and put him in the center of the campaign conversation. The same goes for Taylor. Dig a little.

- A good political consultant would have adopted a political strategy for Oberndorf of strengthening the spotlight on the lower-tier candidates and developing tactics to accomplish that. That way, whether they raise money or not, they’re visible and viable.

In politics, decide early on what you need the playing field to look like, develop a political strategy to accomplish that, and implement tactics that move you toward that goal.

Who Stepped In It: Sen. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, Virginia, should’ve known better. The 7-member Portsmouth City Council could’ve approved millions of financing dollars for her $65 million conference center venture, had she used some political forethought.

Lucas had strong supporters on the Portsmouth City Council. So strong that two council members had direct financial and political interests in the project.  Consequently, they could not vote and abstained.  Where was her political consultant? In a 7-member Council, losing two likely “yes” votes is a one-way ticket to political desolation.

The remaining Council members voted 2-3 against the proposal.  Were the relatively small investments of Councilmembers Whitehurst and Randell so vital that it was worth making Council approval a mountain too high to climb?

Political consultants who deal with City Councils, or any elected bodies that deal with political issues, should shape their strategy around three thoughts concerning the vote:

- how many do we have?

- how many could be persuaded?

- how many will oppose us and how loudly will they do it?

Lucas needed 4 “yes” votes.  She threw 2 away, and it turned an approval into a denial.