6. Housing: Remember housing? The hugely important sector that brought the economy to its knees? You'd be forgiven for letting it slip your mind, since neither campaign wants to talk about it much. The Obama Administration has found that none of several efforts to aid the market has had much impact; Romney doesn't really have any ideas either. Biden and Ryan brought up the topic only in the course of discussing the mortgage interest-rate deduction. Romney blamed Dodd-Frank for making it hard to get a mortage; Obama vaguely praised the slow recovery of the sector. Neither moderator has made any attempt to push the candidates.

7. Jobs: Though we hear again and again that employment is the essential issue in the election, there's almost no substantive discussion of the matter. Asked about jobs last night, Joe Biden veered into a discussion of tax policy and the auto bailout; Paul Ryan repeated, mantra-like, that he and Romney had a five-point plan, without explaining what it was or how it would work. There was more discussion during the presidential debate, but neither candidate offered an explanation for how he would create the millions of jobs necessary to bring the nation back to pre-recession employment levels. As I've written before, neither candidate has a credible plan to create anything like the number Americans need.

8. The Euro Crisis: There is no more imminent danger to the American economy that the continued turmoil in Spain, Italy, Greece, and elsewhere in Europe. But has it come up in any debate? Romney mentioned Spain in passing, criticizing the country's large spending on government. Beyond that, there's been no discussion of what threat Europe poses, how either man would deal with Europe going forward, and how they would insulate the U.S. from contagion.

One can spin various theories for why these essential issues haven't been discussed. Social issues like abortion and gay rights seem to be viewed as somewhat vulgar by the Very Serious People in charge of the debates, but they're hugely important to many voters, especially in the Midwest. Voting rights, with its racial content, is a minefield they might just as soon avoid. The Fed and the European economy are rarefied subjects that are tough to discuss in a manner intelligible to average voters during the brief time slots allotted to answer questions. Climate change is thought -- perhaps wrongly -- to be a political loser among all but the Democratic base. Neither ticket has much to offer voters on housing or jobs. And neither of the first two moderators has been an economic-policy specialist. But time is running out: The final debate is on foreign policy, meaning there's only one chance, at next week's debate, to force Obama and Romney to reckon with these issues.

What else is missing? Look at the transcripts and judge for yourself.