"A debate-cheating flap continued to nag at Democrat Alex Sink on Wednesday even as new video surfaced showing she might not have known a campaign staffer broke the rules until it was too late.
At issue: a note shown to Sink on a makeup artist's smart phone during a commercial break Monday. The CNN/St. Petersburg Times debate rules specified that the candidates would receive "no notes'' from staff.
The new video clip, posted Wednesday by CNN, indicated Sink was handed the phone before she realized the message was about her debate against Rick Scott, her Republican opponent for governor.
CNN didn't post all of the audio from the exchange, but CNN debate moderator John King accurately noted that the stylist twice discussed the contents of the message, in which a campaign adviser wanted Sink to "stand up'' more to Scott.
Sink, who wasn't clear about what she was being told, even asked the woman to repeat the message.
The makeup artist, whom the Sink campaign would not identify, didn't seem to know much, either, as she showed the phone to Sink.
"I don't know who that's from,'' she said, her voice growing quiet with a question: "If it's from Brian?"
The Brian in question is Brian May, an insurance lobbyist and campaign adviser who was promptly dismissed Monday night. May had insisted on the no-notes rule for the debate after the Sink campaign claimed Scott used notes in an earlier face-off, one that, according to Scott, allowed notes.
Sink's account of what happened differs from the video. She said she never heard the name "Brian,'' which the video shows is mentioned by the stylist."
