The American Pundit

Via Ace, here’s the blogger that did all of the work. A search of Archive.org, a website that keeps an archive of websites across the internet, finds a page referring to Obama as a member of the New Party. The New Party was a far-leftist party apparently founded by the Democratic Socialists of America that became essentially defunct in 1999.

Early this summer, reports surfaced that Obama had been backed by the New Party for his run in Chicago — an allegation that the DSA and Obama campaign denied. J Brown writes:

The DSA and ‘New Party’ then systematically attempted to cover up any ties between Obama and the Socialist Organizations. However, it now appears that Barack Obama was indeed a certified and acknowledged member of the DSA’s New Party.

On Tuesday, I discovered a web page that had been scrubbed from the New Party’s website. The web page which was published in October 1996, was an internet newsletter update on that years congressional races. Although the web page was deleted from the New Party’s website, the non-profit Internet Archive Organization had archived the page.

Here’s the page. The update from the New Party was this:

Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).

But that’s not the only connection. Brown finds an article in the “Progressive Populist” magazine article from 1996:

“New Party members and supported candidates won 16 of 23 races, including an at-large race for the Little Rock, Ark., City Council, a seat on the county board for Little Rock and the school board for Prince George’s County, Md. Chicago is sending the first New Party member to Congress, as Danny Davis, who ran as a Democrat, won an overwhelming 85% victory. New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago. “

A Democratic Socialist Party of America newsletter also indicates Obama pushing for New Party members to join his efforts:

the NP’s ‘96 Political Program has been enormously successful with 3 of 4 endorsed candidates winning electoral primaries. All four candidates attended the NP membership meeting on April 11th to express their gratitude. Danny Davis, winner in the 7th Congressional District, invited NPers to join his Campaign Steering Committee. Patricia Martin, who won the race for Judge in 7th Subcircuit Court, explained that due to the NP she was able to network and get experienced advice from progressives like Davis. Barack Obama, victor in the 13th State Senate District, encouraged NPers to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration.“

This is huge. There’s more at Nice Deb.

Update: Hot Air has it now, too. As does Newsbusters. Good. Now we just need Drudge to take an ounce as much interest in this story as he has in a passenger flinging foot powder and Politico’s description of last night’s debate as the most boring in history.