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.