‘Fangate’ becomes campaign fodder in Crist vs Scott race

‘Fangate’ becomes campaign fodder in Crist vs Scott race
  • Sumo

An electric fan? Really? That’s what everybody wants to talk about today?

It’s not like it was the first time former Gov. Charlie Crist uses Crist Fanwhat apparently is his travel fan. After Gov. Rick Scott and his campaign complained Wednesday about a portable fan that his predecessor uses regularly and a lot — leading Ladra to think maybe Crist is caliente, after all — a user on Buzz Feed posted 24 photos and one video on the website of Crist and his favorite fan at different campaign events and interviews throughout the state.

That lucky fan — which at least once was held by someone off-camera — has appeared on several news shows, including a West Palm Beach TV station in 2010, CNN and Comedy Central, no less! If it’s good enough for Stephen Colbert, it should be good enough for Broward College, no?

And it strikes Ladra as a bit odd that the fact that someone travels with a fan is news. At least in South Florida, where at any given intersection you can find at least one vehicle with a fan taped or screwed or glued onto the dashboard.

Since when is the use of a fan in Florida controversial? Ah! Since it became a political tool.

This is a close race and the fan is good fodder for political mockery, which is all that this contest seems to be about. Either that or Gov. Scott is afraid Crist fanof a little wind. But Ladra is betting on the former. Why else would they have been standing ready with a #CristHitsTheFan hashtag and several bumper-stickers-in-the-making on the “Fangate,” as it has been jokingly called by some journalists?

It is already the freshest campaign material in this overly negative race. For both camps.

Just as the debate began, the Crist campaign sent a fundraising email using the incident.

“I wasn’t planning on emailing you tonight. But something crazy just happened… Moments before the debate was scheduled to begin, Rick Scott decided he wasn’t going to participate, ” wrote Omar Khan, Crist’s campaign manager. “Why? Because there was a fan at Charlie’s podium. A fan.”

“For seven incredible minutes just now, Charlie stood all alone at the podium while Rick Scott threw a temper tantrum backstage, denying the people of Florida the chance to hear from their gubernatorial candidates because of — literally — a breeze… If you’re as amazed as I am by what you just saw, chip in a few bucks right now to make sure this guy doesn’t get to stay our Governor.”

Scott finally joined the debate — GOP defenders say he was simply waiting to see if the debate organizers held Crist to the no-fan rule — and his campaign joined the fanwagon (sorry, couldn’t help it) immediately also with a statement released before the debate was over.

“Charlie Crist can bring his fan, microwave, and toaster to debates – none of that will cover up how sad his record as governor was compared to the Crist fansuccess of Rick Scott,” said Scott campaign manager Melissa Sellers. “Crist should buy a fan for the 832,000 Floridians who lost their jobs while he was governor.”

The Miami-Dade Republican Party said the fan violated the rules that debate organizers — the Florida Press Association and Leadership  — had set and distributed a statement from them.

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3 Responses to "‘Fangate’ becomes campaign fodder in Crist vs Scott race"

  1. I think the comments by Janel Jackson-Lefebvre really hits the nail on the head. Here’s my question: Gov. Scott, why did you take three percent of my and every other public employees’ pay, ostensibly to shore up the Florida Retirement System; when we had one of the strongest pension funds in the nation, and all that money actually goes into the state’s general revenue fund? My retirement account balance hasn’t changed in three years; meanwhile you are balancing the budget on the backs of myself and my brethren. Why, when the money taken from our salaries puts the budget into surplus, do you insist on giving it away to corporations as tax breaks? Why have you hacked away at the education budget while earmarking funds for corporate siphons running charter schools and testing companies who make the Keystone Kops look competent? I will understand if you give me a vacant stare, pretend not to understand the question, or ask for a fan. And she goes on the say, I almost forgot: Why do you insist on continually weakening the class size amendment voted for by the citizens of this state twice? The 800 courses that qualified originally has been whittled to 300. As a middle school core content teacher, I should only have 110 students. Instead, I have 157. It’s okay to blink.

  2. I thought the bumper sticker said “Crist is a FANatic”. This whole deal with a fan gave Crist a few minutes before the debate and the media who loves the drama was going wild. He knows Scott has no problem debating him. Voters look at their records which they both have.

  3. How does Scott plan to attract tech jobs to Florida if he thinks a fan is an electronic device? His staff failed him miserably last night. No shock, as some of them used to work for Bachmann. Pretty damned embarrassing performance by Team Scott.

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