Rick Scott and Charlie Crist are set to have their third and final debate tonight on CNN, two weeks from Election Day.
And this time, there will be no fans.
CNN has made it clear to both candidates that no fans are allowed in tonight's debate, and Crist has agreed that this time he won't be bending any rules.
According to the network that's hosting this final debate, the race between the two candidates remains all knotted up.
With a race this tight this close to the end, it's likely that we could see sparks fly in tonight's debate. Someone needs to land a knockout punch or, at the very least, leave a lasting final impression on people still on the fence about which way they're voting.
As it turns out, Floridians don't really care much for either of these guys.
Still, here are some things we're predicting happen tonight:
1. FanGate Talk Won't Die Until It's Good and Ready: No, it's not over. At least not until the debate begins and the moderators get it out of the way and ask the candidates to clarify their side of the story on what happened. Charlie Crist will be asked why he broke the rules and will likely give a glib answer about being comfortable and how too much of a big deal is being made of this whole thing (even though his campaign is mostly to blame for saturating social media and email blasts over the issue with Tweets and hashtags).
Scott will probably give us another gold nugget like this one:
2. Scott and Crist will be asked more questions about an inanimate object not being there more than an actual person not being there: Once again, Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie won't be participating. While he's failed to capture a high enough percentage in the polls to get in to a debate, he still has some interesting things to say and some interesting stands on things. He might also sway the vote one way or the other, even if he has zero chance of winning this thing. It's a shame he'll have no airtime.
3. Both candidates will pretty much say the same crap they said last time: Scott is going to bring up how Charlie lost 832,000 jobs when he was governor. Crist is going to bring up the $1.3 billion in education cuts Scott has made as governor. These are two robots with the personalities of a Ken doll.
4. Rick Scott will try to land some haymakers: Even though the race is razor-thin, Scott came off looking like a dweeb in the last debate. Showing up late to the stage because of a fan and then saying incoherent things all night was not a good look for the man -- and this is a guy who looks like a lizard. Expect Scott to really go for the jugular on Crist's "flip-flopping" ways.
5. Charlie Crist will play it smooth: Crist was clearly the winner of the last debate and is playing with house money tonight. Fan or no fan, expect him to stick to his message and deliver some zingers here and there, but without much of a punch. Of course, it can all go downhill if he starts sweating like Patrick Ewing at the free throw line. Then, all bets are off.
6. Policy, policy, policy: Outside of another FanGate moment -- and oh how glorious would it be if the political gods graced us with another one of those -- expect tonight to be filled with policy and stances. Education, minimum wage, medical marijuana, same-sex marriage, and jobs -- these things have been discussed ad nauseam. Tonight will be more of the same.
7. When Charlie Crist is asked a question:
8. When Rick Scott is asked a question:
And, of course, you can still play our debate drinking game.
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