Let's be absolutely clear about one thing: An electric fan is not an "electronic device." If the debate organizers did prohibit "electronic devices (including fans)", that would only apply to fans containing electronics. That's not a technicality and it's not "Clintonian parsing." Words mean things.
From the debate pictures, it looks like Charlie Crist's fan was a bog-standard $20 Honeywell portable table fan, probably of a model I've owned myself.
It consists of an electromagnetic motor with a plastic fan blade stuck on the end. When the motor turns, the fan blade turns. It has one potentiometer that serves as a dial that can be turned to vary the speed of the motor and to turn the fan on and off. If it's extra fancy, it may have an electromechanical switch that turns the fan on and off separately. No electronics anywhere--and therefore, absolutely not prohibited.
Words mean things!
I write for a living. I choose my words carefully because they need to mean what I want them to mean. If Rick Scott's people wanted to stop Crist from bringing a fan, they should have insisted that the rules prohibit "electric fans and electronic devices." They didn't. Instead, they are insisting that the rest of us honor the meaning of what they only wish they had said. Neither Crist nor anyone else should feel the slightest obligation to do so.
EDIT: Rec List, really? Thanks, you guys.