Where's the urban candidate?

Clyde Haberman wrote in The New York Times ("So Many Presidential Debates, So Little Concern Shown for Cities," 2007-12-14):

In mid-October, I noted that the Democrats and Republicans had held 17 or so presidential debates (the number can vary, depending on who’s counting), but that with all the gabbing they managed not to focus on America’s cities.

Well, two months have passed, and that observation is no longer valid.

The candidates have now held 25 or so debates without talking about urban issues.

Someone ought to alert the Guinness people. For sidestepping matters of direct concern to more than 30 percent of the population — people living in urban areas — this has to be some kind of record.

Read the rest here.

I have to agree—it's quite tragic that urban issues aren't trotted out in campaigns. The interests of the rural Midwest, and tiny New Hampshire, are elevated well beyond their importance. That's not to say these are bad places, but they don't reflect the needs of most of the country.