Erick Erickson has completed an exhaustive examination of the New Party, a party that Obama sought the approval of, signed a contract with, and ran on the party line of (simultaneously as the New Party nominee and as the Democrat Party nominee) when he ran for the state legislature in 1996.

(Yes, that was the race where he had all of his Democratic party rivals thrown off the ballot because some of their nominating petitions had people who printed their names instead of signatures.) The New Party platform:

  • full employment
  • a shorter work week
  • a guaranteed minimum income for all adults and a universal “social wage”
  • full public financing of elections with universal voter registration
  • “the democratization of banking and financial systems”, which included public control and regulation of banking
  • a more progressive tax system
  • reductions in military spending and an end to unilateral military interventions.

The New Party seal of approval prompted the Democratic Socialists of America of Chicago to applaud Obama’s election.