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A day after Charlie Crist’s fan stole the show at the Florida gubernatorial debate, Rick Scott was the one sweating it out.

Scott’s initial refusal to debate until handlers for the Democrat removed an electric fan beneath Crist’s podium — before ultimately relenting — has members of his own party scratching their heads, as the seven-minute standoff now dubbed “Fangate” nabs the headlines nationally and gives Democrats easy fodder for attacks.

Debate organizers now say it was the Crist camp that broke the rules, but that detail has been largely ignored. And the Scott camp says the incumbent wasn’t holding out from participating because of the fan.

“Rick Scott never refused to take the stage and debate,” said Melissa Sellers, Scott’s campaign manager. “In fact, our campaign was not notified Charlie had even taken the stage because the last we heard, Crist was in an ‘emergency meeting’ with debate organizers pleading for his precious fan.”

But “#Fangate” and “#FLGOVDebate” were still trending on Twitter hours after Wednesday night’s debate. Florida’s major newspapers led with the fan incident on the front pages, and fan puns are still dominating social media and news coverage of the debate. Thursday’s lead headline in the Naples Daily News, Scott’s hometown newspaper, was “Airing their differences.” The Miami Herald led with “‘Fangate’ then debate,” and the Tampa Bay Times headline was: “After fan delay, a sharp debate.”

Although Republicans are split on how much of an impact the incident could have on the race, they agree that Scott, the incumbent seeking a second term, mishandled it.

“What Rick Scott should have done is walk on the stage, shake [Crist’s] hand, bend down, pull the cord out, and say, ‘This is how rules work, bitch,’” said Rick Wilson, a Florida-based GOP consultant.

Another Republican operative in the state, Alex Patton said: “He should have just gone on and done the debate. To not come out was just petty and looked insignificant compared to the issues Florida is facing.”