Who Stepped Up: A good return is better than a fantastic serve.

Never thought you could learn about politics from watching Grand Slam Tennis, did you? Watch pros on the court and what will you see? Both usually can smash the ball and slam an ace at will.

But who wins? Winning on your serve isn’t enough. The winner is the one who can return the opponent’s serve and score a point. Anyone can hit hard; good counterpunches usually win.

I saw that strategy employed recently in Norfolk in a debate between two candidates for Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney, Greg Underwood and John Coggeshall.

Underwood spoke first and burned up his time touting his extensive resume. “Look at my qualifications and then look at my opponent’s qualifications,” said Underwood, calling himself a “career prosecutor.” He bragged about his record in the prosecutor’s office as the “Senior Deputy in the office right now.”

Not a bad opening punch. However, a good political consultant on the receiving end would have seen that coming and thought, “How can we make his biggest strength into a liability.”

Coggeshall and his team did just that and returned a blistering shot. Knowing that Underwood loves to say, “I’ve been a prosecutor in Norfolk since 2001,” Coggeshall collected some statistics. Since 2001, robberies are up 12%, aggravated assaults are up 37%, and murders are up an astounding 55%.

Coggeshall then asked for a show of hands of how many people are happy with the current level of crime in Norfolk. Not a hand went up.

Coggeshall is a Republican, Norfolk is a very Democratic town, and that audience was no Republican breakfast. But Coggeshall scored big.

Underwood isn’t an incumbent, but by campaigning as the heir apparent with eight years working in the office, he opened himself up to every criticism that can be launched about the current crime level in Norfolk.

The inevitable question for Underwood’s political consultant is, “how can he do better than his own record?” In a city and an electorate where Underwood has all the advantages, his campaign message forced him into playing defense.

And that’s a bad position to be playing from with a special election date of March 10.

All because Coggeshall knew how to return a serve.

Who Stepped Up: As political campaigns come and go, so do political promises. A good political consultant narrows those promises to those that, by their very nature, make the candidate look good and the opponent look bad.

McCain’s advisors, and sometimes even McCain himself, have floated the notion of 4 years and out for the Presidency.

On the plus side, it energizes McCain’s image as a reformer. He can say “I’ll get things done in 4 years and not 8″ and play a little Ross Perot, since Perot made the same pledge years ago.

It may help defuse the age issue. Adding 4 years to his current age doesn’t have the same bite as a Democratic attack adding 8.

It also positions himself well against Obama, who seems to have been running for President since he took his Senate oath. McCain can look like he’s taking the job out of duty and public service, and not in some planned power grab.

On the down side, it focuses some attention on McCain’s age issue. Pledging to only serve one term might encourage some to ask “will he get to have a choice?”

On balance, it would be a wise political move. It would quickly get many many Republicans working hard for McCain, knowing that the 2012 slot would still be open if he wins.

Remember this! Back to back 2-term Presidents of the same political party just don’t happen in the modern era. McCain’s folks recognize this, and may have given him the perfect way to win independent voters, who care more about accomplishments than rhetoric.

Just think of the Presidential Debates. McCain pledges one term. Obama? Obama will get trapped in looking like he’d want every last minute of those 8 years being President, and America won’t like it.

McCain should make the pledge.