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Democrats need to offer a cohesive "national narrative" instead of just a long checklist of policy pitches, according to a task force created to help the party bounce back from its shellacking in 2014's midterm elections.

In its autopsy of those losses, the task force is calling for a new "national narrative project" to develop a simple explanation for a basic question: What do Democrats stand for?

"No area of this review caused more debate or solicited more ideas than the belief that there is no single narrative that unites all of our work and the issues that we care about as a community of Democrats," the 10-person task force says in the preliminary report it issued Saturday, ahead of a longer version expected in May.

"It is strongly believed that the Democratic Party is loosely understood as a long list of policy statements and not as people with a common set of core values (fairness, equality, opportunity)," the report says. "This lack of cohesive narrative impedes the party's ability to develop and maintain a lifelong dialogue and partnership with voters."

The Democratic National Committee released the report during its winter meeting Saturday. It was seven pages long, prompting Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to sarcastically chide that it "sounds pretty serious" on Twitter.

The autopsy comes after Republicans commissioned a similar report in the wake of their failure to oust President Barack Obama in 2012. That report called on the party to improve its position with Latino voters by embracing immigration reform, as well as new year-round, state-level outreach efforts and fewer debates during its presidential nominating process.

The panel that put together the Democrats' report included Google chairman Eric Schmidt, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and DNC vice chairwoman Donna Brazile, who is also a contributor at CNN. Its findings were based in part on a poll of 100,000 of the party's supporters.

The report lays out brutal losses since Obama swept into office in 2008: Democrats have shed 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats, 910 state legislative seats, 30 state legislative chambers and 11 governor's offices.

Part of the problem, the report acknowledges, is that Republicans gained so many seats in recent years that they controlled the redistricting process and allowed their party to make massive gains that Democrats can't easily challenge. It calls for a "three-cycle plan that targets and wins back legislative chambers" in order to reverse that tide.

The report recommends stronger relationships with state parties, and also points to a weak Democratic bench, saying the DNC needs to help find and train talent.

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Democrats seek identity after midterm autopsy

TIME Politics 2014 Election Democrats Call for Focus on Narrative, White Voters After 2014 Losses 11:33 AM ET Updated: 12:34 PM ET Alex WongGetty Images President Obama speaks as Democratic National Committee Chair and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Vice Chair for Voter Registration and Participation Donna Brazile share a moment during the General Session of the 2015 DNC Winter Meeting, Feb. 20, 2015 in Washington, DC. The party chair calls a new report "tough love"

The Democratic Partys autopsy of its devastating defeat in 2014 calls for a renewed focus on the partys message and winning back white Southern voters.

In preliminary findings unveiled Saturday at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee, a task force studied the partys defeats in 2010 and 2014despite its victories in the 2008 and 2012 presidential years. It called for the creation of a National Narrative Project to help the party develop a message that can survive in midterm election years.

This morning were going to hear some tough love, and frankly we need to hear it, said Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who chairs the DNC.

It is strongly believed that the Democratic Party is loosely understood as a long list of policy statements and not as people with a common set of core values (fairness, equality, opportunity), the report found. This lack of cohesive narrative impedes the partys ability to develop and maintain a lifelong dialogue and partnership with voters.

The report, developed by party leaders and operatives, encourages Democrats to develop a three-cycle plan to increase representation in state legislatures for the purposes of the 2020 redistricting cycle. Republican gains in states in 2010 led to gerrymandering in their favor in the last decennial redrawing of congressional district lines, and further gains in 2014 made the Democrats challenge to reverse the trend all the greater.

The Task Force recommends that the DNCalong with the Democratic family of organizations, state parties and allied organizationscreate and resource a three-cycle plan that targets and wins back legislative chambers in order to prepare for redistricting efforts, the document states.

The report also calls on the party to continue pushing for right-to-vote legislation, as well as step up efforts nationwide to recruit candidates at local and state levels to build the next generation of party leaders. Additionally, it calls on the party to continue to study why voters drop-off from presidential years to midterm elections, resulting in a more favorable playing field for the GOP, as well as ways to prevent the hemorrhaging of white voters .

In order to win elections, the Democratic Party must reclaim voters that weve lost including white Southern voters, the report states. The topic was a subject of discussion Thursday during a meeting of state party chairs, led by South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison. On Saturday, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who chaired the task force, faulted the party for having a single-minded electoral strategy focused on White house and said, the Democratic Party has lost its way.

Republicans reacted skeptically.

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Democrats Call for Focus on Narrative, White Voters After 2014 Losses

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