President Obama didn’t mention two of his campaign’s most effective attacks against Mitt Romney in Wednesday night’s debate in Denver.

Obama failed to criticize or even speak about Romney’s time running the private equity firm he founded, Bain Capital, which his campaign has relentlessly attacked for months.

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He also didn’t mention Romney’s comments about the “47 percent,” which are featured in a new Obama ad.

The omissions were striking given all of the time Obama’s campaign has devoted to the two issues.

Throughout the election cycle, the Obama campaign has highlighted instances of outsourcing by companies Bain invested in and businesses that folded or laid off workers after being acquired by the private equity firm.

The “47 percent” remarks have been frequent fodder for the campaign recently.

Surreptitious video surfaced last month of Romney telling a group of fundraisers that “47 percent” of voters see themselves as “victims” who are “dependent upon government.”

He also said his job as a candidate is to not think about them, but to instead focus on independent voters who could swing the election.

The comments became a major headache for the campaign, with Republicans worrying they could be a pivotal factor that could cost Romney the election.

The Obama campaign has released a handful of ads criticizing Romney for the controversial comments, saying he had “callously written off” 47 percent of Americans.

And so, Obama’s failure to mention the issue was surprising, and it is likely to be viewed as a lost opportunity.