Politics: Who Stepped Up
Political Consultants Prepare For Blistering Serves: 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 during 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.
About Rourk Public Relations
Brian Kirwin is an expert at politics, political issues, government relations, political strategy, political tactics, and political campaigns, and serves as a political consultant, political campaign consultant, and political image consultant for clients in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton Roads, and throughout Virginia.
For a no-cost phone consultation, feel free to call Brian Kirwin at (757) 718-3225.
