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Mary Kate Cary, Opinion contributor 6:00 a.m. ET June 26, 2017

Top Democratic House leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, March 24, 2017, Washington(Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)

Roughly 80%of us now live in states either partially or totally controlled by Republicans. Two-thirds of our nations governors are now Republican tying a 94-year-old record and an all-time high 69 of99 state legislatures now have Republican majorities. In half of our 50 states, both the state legislature and the governorship are controlled by Republicans. And thats aside from the fact that Republicans control Congress and the White House and have appointed a majority of justices on the Supreme Court.

After four straight lossesin recent special elections for congressional seats,on top of more than 1,030 seats lost nationally by Democrats in state legislatures, governorshipsand Congress since 2009, the Democratic National Committee needs to figure out the cause of what can only be called the partys slow death.

Its time for the DNC to perform an autopsy.

The Republicans did the same thing in 2012 when they published the Growth and Opportunity Project affectionately known around Washington as The Autopsy. And while not everyone agreed with its recommendations, the authors were well-respected GOP leaders who called for changes to the partys messaging, demographic outreach, use of new technology and data, number of debates and primary schedule. The guy who ordered the autopsy is now White House chief of staff.

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Sally Bradshaw, one of the co-authors, said in 2012, We have become expert at how to provide ideological information to like-minded people but, devastatingly, we have lost the ability to be persuasive with or welcoming to those who don't agree with us on every issue.

Say what you want about Donald Trump who was not a fan of the reports recommendations and disagrees with many traditional Republican policies but he brought millions of new voters to the GOP. He knew how to connect with the people he called forgotten Americans, many of whom had never voted Republican. Republican turnout in the primaries set a new record.

The massive loss of Democratic seats across the nation has meant the left is now without a pipeline of quality candidates. Exhibit A: Jon Ossoff, the progressive candidate in the Georgia special election, didnt even live in the district in which he was running. Apparently,there was no one in the district to recruit. Exhibit B: Rob Quist, the Democrat in Mays special election in Montana, was a banjo-playing songwriter who hasperformed at a nudist camp. Not that theres anything wrong with that.

The Democrats also have a policy problem. In an era of viciousattacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, staggering national debtand menacing actions by North Korea, theyonly seem to want to talk about abortion rights, transgender bathroomsand gun control. Rich Lowry observed in Politicothat if Democrats had to choose between opposing an actual coup against Trump and endorsing a ban on abortion after 20 weeks, theyd probably have to think about it. I think hes right.

While 58% in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll sayTrump is out of touch with the concerns of most people, an even higher percentage 67% sayDemocrats are. That includes 44% of Democrats themselves.

Heres another disconnect: The average age of the Democratic leadership in the House is 76; for Republicans, its 49. A recent headline from the liberal Huffington Post: Democratic leadership looks like old Soviet Politburo. That headline has the added benefit of being true: The average age of the Politburo before its collapse was only 70. Having California Rep. Nancy Pelosias the face of the Democratic Party is not a great strategy for winning the youth vote.

But I have a feeling there wont be any autopsy from the DNC. Instead, New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, predicted in a staff memo last week that Democrats would take the full House back in 2018. I am not making this up.

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Why have a serious examination of whats gone wrong when you can keep tweeting #Resist, marching in pink hats, and cheering on Alec Baldwin? The left will keep Pelosi and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer in charge, theyll keep widening the disconnect with the middle class by fighting for policies that expand government and slow the economy, and theyll keep whistling past the graveyard.

The longer it takes for Democrats to call the coroner, the better for Republicans.

Mary Kate Cary, a former White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush, is a senior fellow for presidential studies at the University of Virginias Miller Center. Follow her on Twitter: @mkcary

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Democrats will keep failing until they do their own autopsy - USA TODAY