We now know exactly how badly the Republican Party lost the last election — with Nate Silver calculating President Obama’s popular vote margin at 3.85 percent  (razor-close to our Democracy Corps prediction of 3.8 percent.) They lost the electoral vote in a landslide, and came in behind Democrats in national congressional tallies as well. But the important point is not that they lost. It is that they still wield enormous power in Washington and in the states. Worse, their disconnection from the electorate only seems to have hardened their positions, as they challenge President Obama with a threat to shut down government.