Guest AuthorBy now, most of the free world knows about Ebola and #fangate.
In case you are late to the debate, the host at the Florida gubernatorial debate Wednesday night invited both candidates to come on stage. After about a minute and a half, former Gov. Charlie Crist walked on and the host announced that Rick Scott was not going to participate because Crist broke the rules by having a fan at his podium, and #fangate was born.
About five minutes later, seven minutes into the debate, Scott joined the debate and Crist kept his fan.
Here are some ways Scott and his team could have handled that situation to avoid seven minutes of dead air, the cardinal sin of broadcasting.
- Forget the fan and join the debate and let the debate organizers deal with the situation after the debate. This was probably not an option for the Scott team because some likely believe that Scott won four years ago because Alex Sink broke the “electronic device” rule during their debate. Some were probably hoping to catch lightning twice.
- Send your campaign manager to the microphone to explain the debate rules and ask Crist to abide by them. This is what I would have recommended at the time because it would have been a staffer filling the air vs. the governor appearing petty.
- Send the campaign manager to the microphone and request that Crist be asked to go back stage while debate organizers resolved the impasse.
- Send Scott on stage, have him take off his jacket and tie, hand it to a staffer, roll up his sleeves and say, “I’m ready to work as hard as Charlie Crist’s fan!” Quite frankly, this may not have worked for the television audience without the knowledge that Crist was using an illegal device.
- Leave the debate hall and stand by your original accusation that Crist is a cheater whose campaign theme is “all rules are to be broken.” This isn’t without risk but would have at least framed the debate as Charlie as a cheater.
- Have Scott come on stage after the seven minutes and demand that the fan be removed. This also has its risks and is not a likely option in what is supposed to be a highly scripted debate.
Debate organizers released details Thursday that they “did not anticipate or plan for the possibility that a candidate (Crist) would not honor the debate rules.” Further, they wrote, “In addition, we regret that one candidate was allowed to take the stage and allowed to talk before the fan issue was resolved.”
Does #fangate have a major impact on the race? I believe it does because it led all newscasts that evening and the only way for Scott to get the truth out from the debate organizers is through TV advertising.
As for how the Scott team could have handled #fangate better, I think only remedies one, two and four were likely options that would have created an atmosphere that would have made it a better night for Scott. Although, five would have been an interesting option if the Scott team truly believed they were right about the fan, which according to debate organizers, it seems they were.
Jamie Miller is a political consultant who has been involved in six statewide races either as campaign manager, senior advisor or general consultant. He is not involved with either campaign for governor. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
