If the Republican candidates want to focus their debate on the economy Wednesday night, it's hard to think of a better host state than Michigan, which has suffered severe job and housing markets. 

A property for sale in North End, Mich. (Photo by Kevin Dooley, 2009, via Creative Commons)

The debate will be broadcast at 8 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PST) from Oakland University, about 30 miles from Detroit. "We were chosen as the debate site because Michigan is at the epicenter for job loss," said Oakland University president Gary Russi as quoted in Trenton Patch. 

Michigan's unemployment rate is currently 11.1 percent, the third highest in the nation behind Nevada and California, according to the Labor Department. 

The decline of the U.S. auto industry, which was in peril before but exacerbated by the recent recession, had its most gruesome effects on Michigan.

Auto manufacturing had around 34,000 in Michigan in 2010, down from nearly 102,000 two decades ago. 

However, Michigan's auto industry is reviving and driving Michigan's recovery. According to Bloomberg, the state's recovery is currently the second fastest among all U.S. states. 

Michigan has also struggled with a brutal housing market. According to RealtyTrac, one in every 322 houses in that state received a foreclosure filing in September, the fourth highest foreclosure rate in the country for that month. 

According to CoreLogic, 36 percent of Michigan's mortgages are "underwater," which means the borrowers owe more on the home than the home is worth.

Detroit home values have lost 53 percent of their value since their peaks, according to Zillow data, although cities like Detroit, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids have begun to show signs of stabilization.

Republican candidates will likely slam President Barack Obama for the economic situation, but it is unclear how well Republican policies will play in Michigan.

Former Mass. governor Mitt Romney railed against the 2008 government bailout of the auto industry.

In a 2008 New York Times op-ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," he wrote:

Without the bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restucture itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

Ahead of Wednesday's debate, the Democratic National Committee released a video slamming Romney's free-market position.

Democrats have just have aggressively attacked Romney's approach to the foreclosure crisis. He said in a recent speech that the government should allow the housing mess to "run its course and hit the bottom."

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