GOP skips housing in debate

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We missed this week’s Republican presidential debate, which focused on economic issues. We assumed there was some discussion of the housing/foreclosure/mortgage mess, so we just went back and read through the transcripts.

We were wrong again: There was one question to one candidate about foreclosure -- which Mitt Romney dodged -- and one question about interest rates.

Here’s Romney on foreclosure:

‘MS. BARTIROMO: Governor Romney, here in Detroit, Michigan, alone, one in every 29 homes went into foreclosure in the first six months of the year. Whose job is it to fix this problem, the government or private enterprise?

MR. ROMNEY: It’s everybody’s job.’ (Romney then jets off on a windy appeal to the Michigan audience, talking about the Michigan economy and the auto industry, never again mentioning housing or foreclosure.)

Sen. John McCain was asked whether he thought Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had cut interest rates aggressively enough:

‘MR. MCCAIN: I wish interest rates were zero. But we leave those responsibilities to the smartest people we can find, and I think that so far, he’s done a good job.’

Our take: Housing is not yet a major issue in the presidential campaign.

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Photo Credit: AP