Add another chapter to the annals of Florida politics.
The gubernatorial debate tonight between current Gov. Rick Scott (R) and former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, now a Democrat, descended into the surreal when Scott refused to come on stage so long as Crist was allowed to use a small fan to keep cool during the debate. I almost feel the need to repeat that sentence again to make sure it sticks. A small electric fan at Crist’s feet behind his podium derailed the start to the televised debate. The fan was, in the view of Scott and his team, a violation of the agreed-upon debate rules.
After the moderators stumbled through the first few minutes, lamely trying to adjudicate the rules dispute, Scott emerged from the wings and the debate got underway.
Here’s the video:
We now seem to be getting a clearer idea of the breakdown of procedures at the Dallas hospital where one Ebola victim died and two infections of hospital staff took place. A nurses’ union – which doesn’t represent the Dallas nurses but was enlisted to speak on their behalf – released a statement today detailing a mix of sloppiness, uncertain and evolving practical and lack of proper equipment in the first days of Thomas Eric Duncan’s stay at the hospital. But the more striking news – found in medical records obtained by the AP – is that there was apparently a critical two and one half days after Duncan was admitted to the hospital with a suspected case of Ebola but before his definitive diagnosis when hospital workers continued to operate without hazardous materials protective gear.
A lot about the country packed into these findings. From the ABC/WaPo poll on concern over a major outbreak of Ebola in the US …
While 65 percent of the respondents say they are concerned about a possible “widespread” U.S. epidemic, nearly 8 in 10 with a high school diploma or less education say they are very or somewhat concerned. Among respondents with advanced degrees, about 4 in 10 say they are concerned. Just over 6 in 10 white respondents say they are concerned, compared with 74 percent of nonwhites. And while majorities of all partisan backgrounds express concern about a U.S. epidemic, Republicans express significantly more worry than Democrats.
Here’s why the battle for Senate probably won’t end in November. Maybe not even in December.
I’d like to think that Charlie Crist’s team or Crist himself were such utter geniuses that they knew somehow that pulling out a little hand fan would trigger Rick Scott meltdown and lead him to make a fool of himself just as he seems to be falling behind in his reelection effort. But I figure they probably just got lucky. He kept making up silly excuses even after the debate!
On the converse, I’m sure in the tough enough! he-manny world of electoral politics, his unwillingness to come out on stage because of a fan will do strengthen him with casual voters.
It’s one of the brutal and inevitable parts of a campaign – late in the cycle when party committees on both sides made the hard to decisions on which candidates to double down on and which to abandon and cut loose. But I think this may be the first time a Senate candidate has decided to cut himself loose. And three weeks out!
TPM Reader JM on Rick Scott, hospital preparedness and the “Ebola cart” …
I have a perspective tying together today’s big news brouhahas. My wife is an ER nurse at a major urban hospital owned by the Hospital Corporation of America, the hospital chain once run by Rick Scott. It’s the largest for-profit medical system in the world, and is of course also notable for its ‘creative billing’ practices in the largest Medicare fraud settlement in history. Scott was booted from the CEO position following that fraud investigation, so he’s not directly responsible for current conditions in those hospitals.
Congressman on Ebola: “As far as I know, I’m okay. But do any of us really know for sure?” Gohmert asked.
Outgoing Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) is apparently refusing to give up his $2.4 million in leftover campaign cash to the DSCC to help elect a Dem in that state (despite Harry Reid’s personal appeals).
You might have seen Norm Ornstein’s piece yesterday in The Atlantic about the concerted effort on the right to swing state judicial elections nationwide. Here’s one particularly telling example: $200,000 from a national GOP group dropped into a small county judicial race. There are only three judges in the county, and only one is a Democrat. Why would Republicans be focused on one Democratic judge? The county is where the state capital is located and that court hears a lot of key state government cases. The big mystery is who exactly ponied up the money that eventually made its way into this race. Dylan Scott reports.