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What they didn't say at the debates

The stage is set prior to the first presidential debate at Magness Arena at the University of Denver, Oct. 3, 2012. Saul Loeb/AFP/GettyImages

With three debates down and one to go, much has been made of what the candidates and the moderators said. Depending on who you ask, President Obama was pacific, then feisty. Mitt Romney was presidential, then peevish. Sleepy Jim Lehrer dropped the ball; steely Martha Raddatz did not. And Candy Crowley was assertive, for better or for worse.

Less attention has been paid, however, to what the candidates and moderators didn't say - the questions (and answers) left on the cutting room floor.

Admittedly, 90 minutes is too short a timeframe to check every box. Constituencies who demand ample airtime for pet issues must face the reality that these debates are at once the briefest and most potent events in the campaign timeline. At a nationally-televised presidential debate, economizing the discussion is not irresponsible, it's inevitable.

But with the domestic policy portions of the 2012 debates now elapsed - the final debate will deal exclusively with foreign policy - it seems appropriate to take stock of the domestic issues about which we heard very little (or nothing at all).

Housing

Since 2007, roughly four million homeowners have been pushed into foreclosure. Average home prices are close to where they were a decade ago. Approximately one in four homeowners are saddled with mortgages that exceed the value of their home. In short, the housing market, despite recent signs of tentative recovery, remains dismal. Problems with housing helped crash the economy in 2007, and the moribund housing market remains arguably the biggest drag on overall economic recovery today, crimping the spending habits of homeowners who are simply trying to keep their heads above the water.

Critics left, right, and center have slammed the Obama administration's housing policy as inadequate or ineffective. The government bailed out the banks, it bailed out the auto industry, it bailed out insurance giant AIG - but it did not bail out beleaguered homeowners. Instead, the administration incentivized banks to refinance mortgages or write off debt, opting for carrots over sticks.

Romney's own housing proposals, meanwhile, have been criticized for their lack of detail and specificity.

Given the lethargy of the housing recovery and the myriad, substantive critiques of the candidates' housing policies, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Mr. Obama and Romney would be pressed on the issue. After all, four years ago, in the wake of financial calamity, all three presidential debates touched on the housing crisis.

This time, nary a peep - Romney briefly mentioned housing during the first debate in the context of explaining his opposition to the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill. But there was not a single dedicated question about the housing market and the candidates' plans to resuscitate it.

The omission grated on some. Alan Jenkins, executive director of the Opportunity Agenda, told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I'm astounded that the candidates haven't addressed housing. After jobs, it's the most important aspect of our economic recovery."

Then again, they may not have much to say. "It's not really a winner of an issue for either candidate," explained Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko. "Obama's main housing initiative fell short of expectations...but at the same time Romney hasn't proposed bold new ideas for housing."

Immigration

Few debates in American life today are as fractious as the national conversation about immigration.

Among Mr. Obama's first-term agenda items, immigration reform stands out as perhaps the most glaring unfinished business. The president, who promised to sign a comprehensive immigration reform bill in his first term, has described the failure of the DREAM Act as his biggest disappointment.

Despite the lack of legislative activity on immigration reform over the last four years, there has been quite a bit of administrative action. Mr. Obama issued a series of executive orders granting a reprieve - and a visa - to undocumented youths who would have trekked the path to citizenship under the DREAM Act. The administration also refocused deportation proceedings on those with a criminal record and has expelled undocumented residents at a record pace - almost 400,000 in 2011.

A September Univision forum dealt extensively with the issue, perhaps understandably given the centrality of the issue to the political concerns of the Hispanic-American community.

Fights over immigration also animated the Republican primary more than any other single issue, with numerous GOP primary debates diving deep into the weeds of immigration policy. And in 2008, the issue surfaced repeatedly during debates between Mr. Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

But in 2012, after three general election debates, only one immigration question has been asked (and that one by an undecided voter at the town hall debate, though the question was curated by moderator Candy Crowley.)

Voter interest in the issue is evidently intense, if social media are any guide - the lone immigration query was the single most tweeted moment in the town-hall forum - but you wouldn't know it based on immigration's meager showing in the debates.

Education

To hear the candidates tell it, nothing will have a greater impact on America's future prosperity than our education system. Mr. Obama has said that "If we want America to lead in the 21st century, nothing is more important than giving everyone the best education possible." Romney's website insists that "To restore America's promise, and get Americans working again, we must achieve meaningful reform in our education system."

But despite this agreement on the importance of education, only one question on education has been asked thus far in the 2012 debates - in the first debate, Jim Lehrer asked each candidate whether the federal government has any role to play in improving our education system.

Mr. Obama responded by touting his administration's "Race to the Top" program, which has catalyzed education reform in 46 states by awarding grant money to states that demonstrate a commitment to reform. Romney offered qualified praise of the president's education reform efforts, and the two tussled over college affordability.

But the skirmishes were brief and unremarkable - and not at all reflective of the critical importance each candidate has ascribed to education reform.

Granted, Republicans have voiced greater approval of the Obama administration's education policy than of any other domestic policy issue. And Obama himself has co-opted much of his education reform agenda from the GOP, embracing conservative positions on teacher tenure and school choice - often to the chagrin of teachers unions who have endorsed his reelection. The relative paucity of education discussion may be a recognition of the comparatively muted policy differences between the two candidates on the issue.

But it may also simply be a case of the moderators and candidates avoiding a discussion that many agree should be near the top of the agenda.

LGBT Issues

With the exceptions of abortion and contraception, LGBT equality - particularly marriage equality - has been perhaps the most prominent cultural flashpoint in the 2012 campaign.

Mr. Obama's affirmation in April that he supports marriage rights for same-sex couples was the first declaration of support for marriage equality from a sitting president. The watershed moment seemed primed to spark a marquee fight on the issue, forcing Republicans and other opponents of gay marriage to fight back.

And they did - quietly. While culture warriors like Rick Santorum and Rick Perry heatedly indicted the LGBT agenda during the Republican primary, eventual nominee Mitt Romney would note his opposition to gay marriage, speak warmly about all of God's children, and quickly retreat to his economic comfort zone.

It was a far cry from the big, gay fracas of 2004, when Republicans ginned up the turnout among their base by engineering ballot initiatives banning same-sex marriage in several swing states, most crucially Ohio.

In that campaign, both the presidential and vice presidential debates saw extended conversations about LGBT issues.

In 2012, not a word. LGBT issues have been entirely absent from the debates. This despite the fact that state and federal policymakers are far more active on the issue than in 2004. Same-sex couples can get married in seven states (pending November ballot initiatives in two states) and the District of Columbia. A federal appeals court just yesterday invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act, which forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. The Supreme Court is expected to take up same-sex marriage in this term or the next.

In 2004 it was at the fringe of the conversation. Today, it's a real, controversial, actionable issue - and nobody brought it up.

Proponents of LGBT equality are not pleased. "3 Debates, 0 Questions on LGBT Issues" complained a web headline from The Advocate, a leading gay magazine.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., who successfully shepherded a marriage equality bill through the New York legislature, admitted, "Frankly, it was a question that I would have liked to have heard asked, but it wasn't asked."

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