Busted in Tampa Bay...

In Florida's gubernatorial contest, it's been very tight - and at times quite nasty.

Last night in Tampa Bay during the final debated between Democratic candidate Alex Sink and her Republican opponent, Rick Scott, Ms. Sink cheated...openly and for all the world to see. (And thanks to the magic of videotape and the Internet, you can see it again, and again, and again...)

Prior to the match-up, the two - along with producers - agreed on a set of ground rules, one of which was "...no communication to the candidates from their teams during breaks." (CNN reports the aide who signed the rules agreement before Monday's debate was Brian May.)

During one of the breaks, Ms. Sink's make-up artist brought her a smartphone with a message from her team on it. Reportedly, the message read: "The attorney who [w]on the Sykes suit said alex sink did nothing wrong. Tell not to let him keep talking about her," CNN said. The text referred to Scott’s attacks on Sink for "improprieties" that occurred while she was a member of the auditing board of Tampa-based Sykes Enterprises.

According to the Washington Times, Scott mentioned the violation of the rules "to a CNN staffer regarding what he believed Sink was doing during the break. He didn't mentioned the incident after they were back on-air but his campaigned issued a media statement later calling Sink a cheat."

The clip below clearly shows Sink taking the smartphone and reading the message. She makes no effort turn it away.

When the misconduct was revealed, Sink - who has made "accountability" one of the cornerstones of her campaign - quickly took responsibility for her actions.

Just kidding...

No, according to numerous wire and news services, "Sink has fired a staffer who broke the rules by trying to coach her during a debate. Sink said in a statement that she 'immediately removed' from her campaign an aide who tried to communicate with her via a cell phone text message shown to her during a break in Monday night's debate. That broke ground rules that both campaigns had agreed to beforehand."

That's the kind of accountability voters are looking for!