Want a lesson in how to jeopardize an election by being (tehnically) right?
Well, Florida\’s Republican Governor, Rick Scott, provided a great one last night, at the start of his debate with Republican-turned Independent-turned Democrat Charlie Crist.
One of the ground rules agreed upon by both sides, was that there would be no electronic devices available at each candidate\’s podium. But when the debate started, there was a fan at Charlie Crist\’s podum, whirring happily away. Not a computer, not an Ipad, but a fan.
What should Scott have done about it?
Well, if he were smart, he would have said nothing until he was asked his first question. And then, he would have prefaced that question by saying something like “I see that my opponent has decided to ignore the rules we agreed to about no electronic devices, and have a fan blowing under his podium. I can only wonder what he is cooling down there” – and then gone on with his answer.
The crowd would have burst into laughter, Crist would have looked foolish and small, and Scott would have copped a major PR victory – i.e. something most people would remember him for in a positive light vs. Crist, over the rest of the campaign.
But, fortunately for Charlie Crist, that is not what Rick Scott did.
Instead, Scott refused to come out.
For several moments there was no one at either podium – during which time the moderator was forced to explain to the audience that this was because Scott was refusing to debate over the existence of a fan.
Then Crist came out – still no Scott – and said let\’s have the debate without him.
When Scott finally did come out, he stammered some half-baked, semi-coherent explanation of his actions (which made things even worse) and the debate finally started.
Bottom line? The PR victory – and it was a huge one – belonged to Charlie Crist. It is an excellent bet that most people will remember how small and petty Governor Scott looked far more than any of the comments or ideas they heard during the debate itself.
(In that regard, I can\’t help thinking that one of Crist\’s more creative people probably suggested he put the fan there, in the hope that Scott would react as he did. If I\’m right, Crist owes that person a big raise).
How does it affect the election? Well, if one of the candidates were substantially ahead of the other right now, I doubt that it would.
But since most polls show this to be a close contest, it is just the kind of boneheaded move that might turn Scott from a winner into a loser.
Not very smart, Mr. Governor. Not very smart at all.
