Why did neither Romney nor Obama choose to run effective campaigns?

Why did neither candidate use their best ammunition against the other?
Neither of them tried very hard to win.

Why didn't Romney go after Obama in a meaningful way?

America today
U6 unemployment at 15%, real unemployment at 23%, the number of people on Food Stamps at 46.7 million (now 47.1 million) the dramatic decline in living standards, household incomes and wages for almost all Americans during Obama's 1st term.
Most of the "jobs" Obama has "created" are part time or low paid.

Unemployment and jobs
http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/unemployment.html

Food Stamps
http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-number-of-people-on-food-stamps.html

Poverty
http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/poverty-is-increasing-wages-are-falling.html

Obama's broken promises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLjtrtQ7PTg

10 Arguments the Republicans are not making
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/09/10-arguments-the-republicans-arent-making-or-why-the-gop-doesnt-mind-losing-in-2012.html

Why didn't Obama go after Romney in a meaningful way?
There are mountains of dirt on Romney and he has an absolutely abysmal track record but it was never aired to the general public - it is all freely available on the internet.
But it was never used.
Why not?

In fact Romney was probably the weakest candidate ever put up by the Republican Party in the last 50 years at least.
He is certainly the dirtiest.

The case against Mitt Romney

http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-case-against-mitt-romney.html

http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/message-to-gop-incumbents-and.html

http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/mitt-romney-information.html

Conclusion

The election had already been decided in 2011 or earlier.
The neocons selected Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee because they knew how weak a candidate he was and knew that he could never win.
Barack Obama is so good at keeping domestic dissent quiet against the wars, favoritism to the big banks,  large Corporations in general and the complete shredding of the Bill of Rights and Constitutional protection for civil rights.
The neocons know that a Republican President could not get away with half the things that Barack Obama is able to get away with - there would be a huge outcry from the left.

The neocons still wanted to keep the election close though, so that both parties could continue blaming each other for America's downward spiral, bankruptcy, future economic devastation and mass unemployment.

BOTH parties have exactly the same Corporatist agenda except for social policy, which is a useful tool to divide and conquer the electorate. Goldman Sachs couldn't care less about abortion or gay rights.

When Mitt Romney made too many early mistakes and the odds were 80/20 in Obama's favor, Obama deliberately threw the first debate (all he had to do was mention "the 47%" a few times in order to win it).

In fact Obama threw the first debate a bit too well and Joe Biden had to redress the balance a little in the VP debate a short time later.

Both candidates agreed to keep their best ammunition out of the public's eye.
It might of disparaged the "election", the political leaders and American politics in general if it had been used.

The electorate might of cottoned on to the fact that BOTH parties have the same agenda of deliberately stealing the wealth of the middle class and giving it to a few rich elites.

The electorate might of cottoned onto the fact that extreme economic deprivation is the last act required in order to impose authoritarian Fascist rule in America.

The "election" was  completely staged managed from start to finish from a long time ago.
At least a year before the "election" ever took place.

Both candidates are owned by the big banks, large Corporations and the neocons.
It didn't really matter to the owners who eventually won - but both candidates followed the instructions of their owners to the letter.
Ben Bernanke openly declared who had been chosen to win by announcing QE3 before the election and not waiting until after.