Summarizing tonight’s debate, perhaps the most helpful comparison is to the dramatized version of the Scopes Monkey Trial, Inherit the Wind. Except in this case, it was economic science that was on trial as opposed to actual science. Like Clarence Darrow, John Kasich, the representative of economic literacy, started out weak, with a confident and the determined populist know-nothing opponent – Governor Ted Strickland as tonight’s version of William Jennings Bryan – hammering him repeatedly. However, as the debate went on, a similar dynamic unfolded to Darrow’s infamous cross-examination of Bryan – Strickland’s answers got progressively weaker, his delivery got progressively more strident, and finally he exploded into a passionate defense of the stimulus which effectively concedes the entire independent vote to Kasich. Of course, Kasich won on the merits, but Strickland’s performance probably energized his progressive base, which is also composed of economic know-nothings. This race is liable to get a lot more ugly over the next few weeks.