Bob Hayes - October 9th, 2008

Democratic candidate Barack Obama was a member of the socialist New Party during the 1990s, according to new evidence unearthed by web bloggers, receiving the party’s endorsement for his state Senate run in 1996. Reports earlier this summer that Obama was associated with the New Party were vigorously denied by the Obama campaign and the New Party, but researchers examining Internet archives have found New Party documents clearly indicating Obama was a member of the party, received its endorsement, encouraged Party members to work with him in the Illinois statehouse, and signed a contract agreeing to maintain a relationship with the Marxist-led party during his senate term.

The New Party was active in the United States from 1992 to 1998, and was strongly affiliated with Marxist and socialist organizations including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The Party’s Chicago chapter included a large number of Maoist and communist members, and a large number of members of the leftist organizing group ACORN. The New Party practiced electoral fusion, an attempt to make third parties more viable by allowing candidates to run on the tickets of more than one party and “fuse” the votes received on those party lines. For example, a candidate could run as both a Democrat and as a New Party member, and accumulate votes from both entries on the ballot. A handful of US states permit fusion-type ballots (Illinois not among them), and the New Party achieved some success in promoting the campaigns of far-left candidates in liberal areas of the country. The avowed purpose of the New Party was to push the Democratic party to the left and to usher in socialist governance in the United States under a Democratic label. A 1997 Supreme Court ruling held that there was no right to the fusion mechanism if a state did not permit it, shutting down New Party hopes that the fusion model could be spread through judicial fiat to all 50 states. The party dwindled in significance and although it maintains a web presence, does not appear to be currently active in politics.

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Tags: ACORN, Democratic Socialists of America, Marxist, New Party, Obama

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