Photo: realjameso16 (flickr)/ marcn (flickr)

Only two questions on global poverty have ever been asked in the history of modern presidential debates. Two. That's less than 1 percent of all questions asked.

A significant amount of the first debate — which was supposed to focus solely on foreign policy — was devoted to the economic crisis. Yet even in the 60-odd minutes spent discussing international issues, noticeably absent was any reference to how the candidates would address global poverty.

In response, the ONE campaign is renewing its effort to have debate moderators ask the candidates what they plan to do to fight global poverty. The ONE campaign delivered 103,000 signatures to Jim Lehrer before the first debate — to no avail — and now plan to deliver 150,000 signatures to Tom Brokaw before next Tuesday's debate. (Myspace users can submit questions directly to Brokaw for consideration.)

One billion people live on under $1 a day — the definition of extreme poverty. Every year 10 million children die from preventable poverty-related malnutrition and infections. Over 850 million people in the world are undernourished.

Surely it's in our national interest to help alleviate extreme poverty. Let's hope the candidates are forced to address it.

Mary O'Grady and OpinionJournal.com discuss the historical impact of trade barriers on Latin America and if the expansion of free trade will continue in Latin America under Barack Obama or John McCain.

Watch the video from The Wall Street Journal.

In last week's New Yorker, James Surowiecki makes a point made previously on this site: "Free trade with poorer countries has a huge positive impact on the buying power of middle- and lower-income consumers [in America] — a much bigger impact than it does on the buying power of wealthier consumers."

The anti-trade rhetoric from the Democratic presidential contenders may play well in the Rust Belt, but pursuing protectionist policies not only will hurt our standing abroad, but also will erode the buying power of working class Americans. As Surowiecki puts it, "Obama and Clinton, in their desire to help working Americans — and gain their votes — are pushing for policies that will also hurt them."

Many General Motors manufacturing jobs has moved overseas. Photo: ifmuth (flickr)

Guess which media outlet is offering an insightful "We the People" series covering unemployment in the Midwest and other pressing U.S. election-year issues? The Kansas City Star? Perhaps the Chicago Tribune or the New York Times? Try Al Jazeera.

In "Jobs," the Dubai-based publisher examines how Dayton, Ohio is dealing with unemployment after losing more than 250,000 jobs in the last eight years. Dayton has been hit hard by outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, rising employment and increased home foreclosures. As one person put it, "the people are here but the jobs are not."

Watch part one of Jobs: End of the Line on YouTube

Watch part two of Jobs: End of the Line on YouTube