The Republican Party has its challenges. The presence of so many candidates in the 2016 presidential race and the fact that an undercard debate session remains necessary might be among them. The party's struggles to appeal to more than older, white voters is most certainly another.

So with racial matters occupying so much national headline real estate in recent days, weeks and months, it would seem unwise to ignore these issues. And perhaps it was unlikely they would come up Tuesday. Fox Business pretty much identifies its primary focus in the network's name. And two of the moderators of Tuesday's main-stage debate told reporters, including The Fix's Callum Borchers, that this debate would focus hard on economic matters.

But after that debate, with its game-show buzzer and the long soliloquies from most of the candidates -- and little in the way of new information for voters -- The Fix is convinced that some effort to ask the candidates about the economics of race and race in education matters might have forced some of the candidates to offer something more than the well-rehearsed answers voters heard Wednesday night.

So we have compiled this list of seven questions that we thought probably wouldn't be asked but should be. As a matter of fact, we compiled our list before the debate. And, it turns out that only part of one question came up and got a range of largely unspecific answers. (One candidate made a reference to a matter contained in a second question. Both are highlighted in bold text below.)

In the interest of perhaps talking about these issues going forward, here are the questions:

1. Republicans have, during both Obama terms, made a point of highlighting the still-elevated black unemployment rate. As of last week, the overall unemployment rate sat at 5 percent, or what many economists consider full employment or a healthy place. But the black unemployment rate remained 9.2 percent, and the Latino unemployment rate 6.3 percent. What would your administration do to specifically address the persistence of higher unemployment among minority workers?

2. Immigration is often discussed as a social issue changing American culture. But it's also certainly one that shapes the American labor market. What would you do to address the kind of H-1B visa gaming described Tuesday in the New York Times? The story, as you all probably know, described the number of visas for foreign workers with specialized skills gobbled up by outsourcing companies subverting some of the program's core goals.

3. Students at the University of Missouri organized protests, a hunger strike and a sports boycott in recent days that ultimately deposed a university system's president and the school's chancellor. While U.S. presidents have no role in hiring decisions at the nation's colleges and universities, the president does appoint a secretary of education who guides the agency that monitors them, provides guidance and sets certain expectations and priorities. Based on events this week, please describe what you would use to evaluate candidates to lead your Education Department?

4. What would you point to as the the major factors driving the nation's persistent racial wealth gap?

5. Several GOP candidates have suggested that one of the things the economy needs most is less regulation. This month, Quartz reported that the U.S. government has begun a sort of educated guessing game as it forces one company to compensate victims of a common problem -- minority buyers with the same credit scores as white ones being routinely charged more for major purchases requiring loans such as cars. But a ban on collecting racial data from auto loan borrowers -- much like the government already collects on home loans -- has made this hard to prove and the work of compensating victims difficult. Would you support collecting that type of data? And what, if any, other steps would your administration take to assure that black, Latino and Asian Americans are not routinely charged more when making major purchases requiring a loan?

6. Repeated studies have shown that effectively segregated communities remain a consistent and common feature American life. And that segregation contributes to certain racial patterns of economic and educational progress. What can you tell us about diversity levels in the community where you live and the schools your children attend? Does the lack of diversity in many American neighborhoods trouble you, or not?

7. Several candidates on the stage have indicated that repealing Obamacare ranks among their chief priorities. Please describe your preferred policy response to the share of Americans who remain uninsured or would, in the absence of the Affordable Care Act, rank among those at great risk of  becoming once again uninsured? And, how would that policy specifically reduce the the disproportionate rate at which black and Latino Americans live without health insurance? Whatever its flaws, Obamcare has done this.