CNN to Charlie Crist: No fan allowed at our Florida debate!

CNN is laying down the law in the Florida gubernatorial race: Democratic nominee (and formerly Republican governor of Florida) Charlie Crist may not bring his electric fan onstage at the debate it is hosting this Tuesday in Jacksonville.

The cable news outlet is now explaining this rule, stemming from a memo sent to the campaigns on Oct. 8:

The debate last night got delayed by a most peculiar event, when Republican Gov. Rick Scott initially did not come out on stage after Crist insisted on placing his cooling fan underneath his podium, as he usually does for public appearances. This mini-hullabaloo has since become known as "Fangate" in the online world.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As CNN also reports, debate organizers now say that Scott was not pulling out of the debate itself — though they concede that "there undoubtedly was some confusion" among the various people communicating with each other. Instead, they say, Scott was simply waiting for the fan matter to be resolved by the moderators. Ultimately, after several awkward minutes, Scott did take his place at his podium — and Crist kept his fan.

Scott has tried to turn the delay back on Crist, accusing his opponent of "throwing a fit" over keeping his fan.