The new party was a political party, sponsored by the Democratic Socialist Party of America, active from 1992 to 1998 in
an attempt to revive the practice of electoral fusion as a political strategy for labor unions and community organizing
groups. Obama was its “fusion candidate” in the 1996 Illinois state Senate race. The main base of support for the Party in
1996 was the community organizing group ACORN. The July-August, 1996 edition of New Ground 47, the publication of
the Chicago Chapter of the Democratic Socialist Party of America carried the following announcement concerning Barack
Obama in an article titled “New Party Update” by Bruce Bentley.
“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. The lone loser was Willie Delgado, in the 3rd Illinois House
District.” (Emphasis added)
During his time as Illinois state Senator, Obama earned a reputation for voting “present” on controversial issues. However,
he was conscientious in supporting progressive causes. In his first term he was involved in various legislation giving an
earned income tax credit to working families, increased child-care subsidies for low-income families, and requiring prior
notice before layoffs and plant closings. After losing to Bobby Rush in the 2000 primary in his unsuccessful try for a
Congressional seat, Senator Obama became more responsive to requests for state funding from churches and community
groups in his district.
After the 2002 elections, Obama became chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. In his last two years as
state Senator he successfully supported efforts to expand children’s health care, provide equal health care to all Illinois
residents, worker’s rights laws, and increased protection for whistleblowers, domestic violence victims, and equal pay for
women. He resigned from the Illinois Senate in 2004 after being elected to the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Senate Campaign
In the 2004 Senate race, incumbent one-time Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald decided not to run for reelection. The
Republican establishment made it clear that it would not support him in a reelection bid, partly because as Senator he had
insisted on bringing in a prosecutor from outside the state to prosecute political corruption in Illinois. This resulted in
several indictments, including the Republican Governor George Ryan who was later convicted and sentenced to prison.
There were two viable candidates other than Barack Obama on the Democratic side; former Senator Carol Mosley Braun
and Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. Braun at first indicated she would run, but soon withdrew her name. Jackson had
already assured Obama that he would not run. That left Obama and eight little-known candidates running in the
Democratic Primary. Obama received 52% of the primary vote. His eight opponents received 48% combined.
On the Republican side there was a field of five. The Republican primary was won by Jack Ryan (no relation to George).
After the primary, a California judge, at the request of the Chicago Tribune, ordered that Ryan open up the records of his
divorce proceedings. As with most divorce proceedings there were some embarrassing disclosures in the court records
causing Ryan to withdraw his name from contention, leaving Obama unopposed in the general election. To replace Ryan
on the Republican ticket the Party brought in former Ambassador Alan Keyes from Maryland to run against Obama. Keyes
was considered by many to be somewhat of an “odd ball”, and was unable to get favorable press coverage. He lost to
Obama 70% to 27% in the November election.
Capitalizing on an unrelenting campaign by the Democratic Party against the Iraq war and the war on terror, Obama made
ending the war the centerpiece of his campaign. He would carry that theme through his short time in the U.S. Senate and
his campaign for President.
Senator Obama
Unlike most first-term incoming Senators, Obama immediately hired an experienced high-powered staff. For his chief of
staff he hired Pete Rouse, former chief of staff to ex-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. For his policy director he
hired the former deputy chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Karen Kornbluh. His key foreign policy
advisors were former officials from the Clinton Administration, Anthony Lake and Susan Rice.
As he did in the Illinois Senate, in the U.S. Senate Obama focused mainly on progressive issues---and traveled. During his
first eighteen months in office Obama made three trips abroad to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2005, he
traveled to Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan; in 2006, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. His third
trip took him to South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. In the short time he spent in the Senate before
beginning his run for the Presidency Obama proved to be the “most liberal (progressive) Senator” in Congress.
American Socialists’ pay homage to two documents, the Communist Manifesto of 1848, written by Karl Marx and Rules
for Radicals of 1971, written by Saul Alinsky. The former provides the agenda and the latter the tactics for achieving that
agenda. The 2008 presidential campaign was the first time the two philosophies had been combined in a bid for the
Presidency. Following the advice of Upton Sinclair, in carefully crafted populists speeches, read from a teleprompter,
Obama laid out his vision of America.
The artfully masked message was heard by the American People with the same hopeful enthusiasm as that of James
Weaver and the Peoples (Populists) Party of 1896. Eight years of unprincipled “Bush bashing” had conditioned the
American people for the Democrat’s “hope and change” cliché dominating the 2008 stump speeches. Republican
candidates tried to copy the populist call for “change” in their message as well, but they did not understand the underlying
message well enough to be effective.
To further obscure the underlying implications of the 2008 election, the word “socialist” was taboo during the campaign.
Few Americans were sufficiently aware of history or the works of Marx and Alinsky to understand the connection
between socialism and Obama’s populism. Those who did were silenced by “political correctness”. Any attempt to point
out the connection was met with ridicule and censure, even among stalwart Republicans.
Still today, one of America’s best educated, and most naïve, talk show host, pseudo-conservative Michael Medved,
berates callers who try to point out the socialist nature of Democratic policies as stupid, and their information as
“unhelpful”. In the popular media “socialist” has become the eighth “forbidden word” when applied to Obama’s or the
Democratic Party’s policies.
Very few words in the English language are held to a more strict definition than the word “socialist”. Those who find all
sorts of meanings in the U.S. Constitution are at the forefront in insisting the word socialist can have only one meaning.
They insist that the litmus test legitimizing use of the word is whether or not the means of production are owned by the
government. This rigid definition confuses the subtle difference between “socialism” and “communism” and overlooks the
historical fact that socialism existed before Marx and Engels, predating the Communist Manifesto by several decades.
In Soviet style communism, the Marxist ideal of public ownership is practiced. In western style socialism, as practiced in
Western Europe by the Democratic Socialists and in American by the American socialist (progressives) the importance is
placed on “control” not “ownership”. Production is controlled through regulations, not by direct ownership. There is little
difference, if any, between a planned economy with public ownership of productive resources and a planned economy
with public control of productive resources.
It is vitally important that the American people understand that socialism is intricately woven throughout the political fabric
of the American political system and can only be detected by a close scrutiny of the candidates, platforms, policies and
promises of the many different political parties vying for their votes. This is equally true of the Democratic and Republican
parties as well as third parties. Socialism is a cancer on the body politic of America, and it always kills unless it is excised.
an attempt to revive the practice of electoral fusion as a political strategy for labor unions and community organizing
groups. Obama was its “fusion candidate” in the 1996 Illinois state Senate race. The main base of support for the Party in
1996 was the community organizing group ACORN. The July-August, 1996 edition of New Ground 47, the publication of
the Chicago Chapter of the Democratic Socialist Party of America carried the following announcement concerning Barack
Obama in an article titled “New Party Update” by Bruce Bentley.
“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. The lone loser was Willie Delgado, in the 3rd Illinois House
District.” (Emphasis added)
During his time as Illinois state Senator, Obama earned a reputation for voting “present” on controversial issues. However,
he was conscientious in supporting progressive causes. In his first term he was involved in various legislation giving an
earned income tax credit to working families, increased child-care subsidies for low-income families, and requiring prior
notice before layoffs and plant closings. After losing to Bobby Rush in the 2000 primary in his unsuccessful try for a
Congressional seat, Senator Obama became more responsive to requests for state funding from churches and community
groups in his district.
After the 2002 elections, Obama became chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. In his last two years as
state Senator he successfully supported efforts to expand children’s health care, provide equal health care to all Illinois
residents, worker’s rights laws, and increased protection for whistleblowers, domestic violence victims, and equal pay for
women. He resigned from the Illinois Senate in 2004 after being elected to the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Senate Campaign
In the 2004 Senate race, incumbent one-time Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald decided not to run for reelection. The
Republican establishment made it clear that it would not support him in a reelection bid, partly because as Senator he had
insisted on bringing in a prosecutor from outside the state to prosecute political corruption in Illinois. This resulted in
several indictments, including the Republican Governor George Ryan who was later convicted and sentenced to prison.
There were two viable candidates other than Barack Obama on the Democratic side; former Senator Carol Mosley Braun
and Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. Braun at first indicated she would run, but soon withdrew her name. Jackson had
already assured Obama that he would not run. That left Obama and eight little-known candidates running in the
Democratic Primary. Obama received 52% of the primary vote. His eight opponents received 48% combined.
On the Republican side there was a field of five. The Republican primary was won by Jack Ryan (no relation to George).
After the primary, a California judge, at the request of the Chicago Tribune, ordered that Ryan open up the records of his
divorce proceedings. As with most divorce proceedings there were some embarrassing disclosures in the court records
causing Ryan to withdraw his name from contention, leaving Obama unopposed in the general election. To replace Ryan
on the Republican ticket the Party brought in former Ambassador Alan Keyes from Maryland to run against Obama. Keyes
was considered by many to be somewhat of an “odd ball”, and was unable to get favorable press coverage. He lost to
Obama 70% to 27% in the November election.
Capitalizing on an unrelenting campaign by the Democratic Party against the Iraq war and the war on terror, Obama made
ending the war the centerpiece of his campaign. He would carry that theme through his short time in the U.S. Senate and
his campaign for President.
Senator Obama
Unlike most first-term incoming Senators, Obama immediately hired an experienced high-powered staff. For his chief of
staff he hired Pete Rouse, former chief of staff to ex-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. For his policy director he
hired the former deputy chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Karen Kornbluh. His key foreign policy
advisors were former officials from the Clinton Administration, Anthony Lake and Susan Rice.
As he did in the Illinois Senate, in the U.S. Senate Obama focused mainly on progressive issues---and traveled. During his
first eighteen months in office Obama made three trips abroad to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2005, he
traveled to Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan; in 2006, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. His third
trip took him to South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. In the short time he spent in the Senate before
beginning his run for the Presidency Obama proved to be the “most liberal (progressive) Senator” in Congress.
American Socialists’ pay homage to two documents, the Communist Manifesto of 1848, written by Karl Marx and Rules
for Radicals of 1971, written by Saul Alinsky. The former provides the agenda and the latter the tactics for achieving that
agenda. The 2008 presidential campaign was the first time the two philosophies had been combined in a bid for the
Presidency. Following the advice of Upton Sinclair, in carefully crafted populists speeches, read from a teleprompter,
Obama laid out his vision of America.
The artfully masked message was heard by the American People with the same hopeful enthusiasm as that of James
Weaver and the Peoples (Populists) Party of 1896. Eight years of unprincipled “Bush bashing” had conditioned the
American people for the Democrat’s “hope and change” cliché dominating the 2008 stump speeches. Republican
candidates tried to copy the populist call for “change” in their message as well, but they did not understand the underlying
message well enough to be effective.
To further obscure the underlying implications of the 2008 election, the word “socialist” was taboo during the campaign.
Few Americans were sufficiently aware of history or the works of Marx and Alinsky to understand the connection
between socialism and Obama’s populism. Those who did were silenced by “political correctness”. Any attempt to point
out the connection was met with ridicule and censure, even among stalwart Republicans.
Still today, one of America’s best educated, and most naïve, talk show host, pseudo-conservative Michael Medved,
berates callers who try to point out the socialist nature of Democratic policies as stupid, and their information as
“unhelpful”. In the popular media “socialist” has become the eighth “forbidden word” when applied to Obama’s or the
Democratic Party’s policies.
Very few words in the English language are held to a more strict definition than the word “socialist”. Those who find all
sorts of meanings in the U.S. Constitution are at the forefront in insisting the word socialist can have only one meaning.
They insist that the litmus test legitimizing use of the word is whether or not the means of production are owned by the
government. This rigid definition confuses the subtle difference between “socialism” and “communism” and overlooks the
historical fact that socialism existed before Marx and Engels, predating the Communist Manifesto by several decades.
In Soviet style communism, the Marxist ideal of public ownership is practiced. In western style socialism, as practiced in
Western Europe by the Democratic Socialists and in American by the American socialist (progressives) the importance is
placed on “control” not “ownership”. Production is controlled through regulations, not by direct ownership. There is little
difference, if any, between a planned economy with public ownership of productive resources and a planned economy
with public control of productive resources.
It is vitally important that the American people understand that socialism is intricately woven throughout the political fabric
of the American political system and can only be detected by a close scrutiny of the candidates, platforms, policies and
promises of the many different political parties vying for their votes. This is equally true of the Democratic and Republican
parties as well as third parties. Socialism is a cancer on the body politic of America, and it always kills unless it is excised.
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E-mail address
jfm@illinoisconservative.com
jfm@illinoisconservative.com
| Philosophy of Evil Socialism in America "The struggle of History is not between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; it is between government and the governed." Jerry McDaniel |
Purchase a book for your
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| Philosophy of Evil Socialism In America By Jerry McDaniel Chapter 33, Continued The Rise of Obama |
Barack Obama
Sometime in the late 1990s the Democratic Socialists of America took an interest in a young, former community organizer
working on the south side of Chicago, named Barack Obama. Obama had, either intentionally or coincidently been
groomed since childhood as a future leader of the American Socialist movement. Barack Obama was born in Honolulu,
Hawaii, August 4, 1961 to Anna Dunham and Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. of Kenya, Africa. His parents met while students
at the University of Hawaii. His father was a communist and nominal Moslem who left his home in a Lou-speaking village
in Africa to become an “agnostic” and study economics abroad. His mother was the daughter of Stanley and Madelyn
Dunham of Honolulu.
Barack’s father left the family when Barack was two years old to pursue graduate studies at Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. His mother filed for divorce from his father in 1964. When Barack was six years old his
mother married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian Oil Manger and the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. Lolo Soetoro was a
nominal Moslem from a devout Moslem family and while in Indonesia Barack was raised as a Moslem. In 1971, at age 10,
Barack was sent back to Hawaii to be raised by his maternal grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham. His grandparents
had grown up in El Dorado, Kansas near Girard, Kansas a socialist Mecca during the early 1900s.
Girard, Kansas was the home of the largest circulation, socialist newspaper in America, Appeal to Reason, edited by Julius
Wayland. The Appeal boasted a number of prominent writers of the progressive movement such as, Jack London, Upton
Sinclair, “Mother” Jones, Eugene Debs and Helen Keller. Upton Sinclair’s famous novel, The Jungle, was first published as
a serial in Appeal to Reason. There is no direct evidence to indicate the socialist atmosphere in Kansas affected the views
of Barack’s grandfather’s family. However, Stanley Dunham was the son of Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham, named after
the famous transcendentalist poet who was heavily involved in the antebellum utopian commune movement and a
participant in the communal experiments of Brooks Farm. Obviously socialism and communism were no strangers to the
Dunham family.
In Hawaii, Barack attended Sunday School at the politically active Church, The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu. First
Unitarian was a sanctuary for draft dodgers and had close ties to the Students for a Democratic Society during the sixties.
As a youth, Barack became close to a friend of the Dunham family, Frank Marshall Davis; a writer for the communist
newspaper, the Honolulu Record. Davis remained a close friend and mentor of Barack throughout his formative teen-age
years. Obama speaks of him fondly in his book Dreams of My Father. Dr. John Drew, writing for the American Thinker
describes Obama as a “doctrinaire Marxist revolutionary” when he met him at Occidental College in 1980.
In 1981, Obama transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a B.A. in political science with a
specialty in International Relations. After graduating, he worked at the Business International Corporation and then at the
New York Public Interest Research Group. From 1985 to 1988 he worked on Chicago’s far south side as Director of the
Developing Communities Project and community organizer. During his time at DCP he set up a job training program, a
college prep training course, and a tenant’s rights program at the Altgeld Gardens public housing project. During this time
he also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.
In 1988 he enrolled in Harvard Law School where he was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of
his first year. As the first black editor of the Law Review, he gained national publicity leading to a publishing contract and
advance for a book on race relations. The book was published in mid-1995 as Dreams of My Father. Critics, using
computer analyses have questioned his authorship of the book suggesting it may have been written by his friend and
former Weatherman, William Ayers. In 1991 he accepted a temporary position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at
the University of Chicago. He later served as lecturer, and still later as senior lecturer, teaching constitutional law.
In 1992 he worked as director of Illinois’ Project Vote, an affiliate of ACORN. Project Vote had a staff of ten with seven
hundred volunteer registrars. It achieved its goal of registering 150,000 to 400,000 unregistered African Americans in
Illinois for the ‘92 elections. From 1993 to 2004 he was an associate at Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a law firm
specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development. During that time he also served on the boards
of the Woods Fund of Chicago and the Joyce Foundation. From 1995 to 1999 he was also the director and chairman of
the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.
The $49.2 million Annenberg Challenge grant was awarded to the Chicago Public Schools based on a proposal written by
William Ayers, associate professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and co-director of Small Schools
Workshop; Anne Hallett, executive director and founder of the Cross-City Campaign for Urban School Reform; and
Warren Chapman, senior program officer for education at the Joyce Foundation. Barack Obama served as founding
chairman and president of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to September, 1999, when he resigned to run in
the Democratic Primary of 2000 for the 1st Congressional District of Illinois. At the time Obama was also a sitting Illinois
State Senator.
Obama’s Political Career
In 1994 Illinois State Senator, Alice Palmer announced she would be running for the U.S. Congressional seat vacated by
Mel Reynolds after his conviction for obstruction of justice and child pornography and would not seek reelection to the
Illinois Senate. A week later, Obama announced that he would be running for her Senate seat. Obama had the support of
two powerful Illinois Politicians Abner Mikva and Emil Jones. He also had the support of the Democratic Socialists of
America. At a fund-raiser in the home of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn, Obama was introduced by Senator Palmer as her
choice for her replacement. After losing badly in the special Democratic Primary, Palmer changed her mind and decided to
run for reelection herself.
There were five candidates vying for Palmer’s Senate seat in the primary election of 1996. On the first filing day for
nominating petitions, Obama filed his with more than 3,000 signatures. Obama’s campaign challenged the petitions of all
four of his competitors and was successful in getting them all disqualified so that he was able to run unopposed in the
Primary.
In the general election he received 83% of the vote while his Republican challenger, Rosette Caldwell Peyton received only
5%. Obama was sworn in for a two-year term as state Senator for Illinois’ 13th District on January 8, 1997. In 1998, he
ran unopposed for reelection in the primary and received 89% of the vote in the general. The first time Republican
candidate received 11%. In 2002 he ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections. In the March 2000 primary,
Obama challenged U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush for his seat but received only 31% of the vote, loosing heavily among
black voters.
At the time Obama ran for the Illinois Senate in 1996 he had dual-membership in the Democratic Party and in the New
Party; a small secondary party sponsored by the Democratic Socialist of America. Since then Obama has publicly denied
any association with the New Party.
The following is a copy of a page appearing on the New Party website in 1996. The page has since been scrubbed but was
archived by the non-profit Internet Archive Organization. The page, which was originally published on the NP website as
an update on the 1996 primary election, was retrieved by the Power Line website and published on its site October 8,
2008. Notice that the three candidates listed under Illinois are all listed as members of the New Party.
Sometime in the late 1990s the Democratic Socialists of America took an interest in a young, former community organizer
working on the south side of Chicago, named Barack Obama. Obama had, either intentionally or coincidently been
groomed since childhood as a future leader of the American Socialist movement. Barack Obama was born in Honolulu,
Hawaii, August 4, 1961 to Anna Dunham and Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. of Kenya, Africa. His parents met while students
at the University of Hawaii. His father was a communist and nominal Moslem who left his home in a Lou-speaking village
in Africa to become an “agnostic” and study economics abroad. His mother was the daughter of Stanley and Madelyn
Dunham of Honolulu.
Barack’s father left the family when Barack was two years old to pursue graduate studies at Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. His mother filed for divorce from his father in 1964. When Barack was six years old his
mother married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian Oil Manger and the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. Lolo Soetoro was a
nominal Moslem from a devout Moslem family and while in Indonesia Barack was raised as a Moslem. In 1971, at age 10,
Barack was sent back to Hawaii to be raised by his maternal grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham. His grandparents
had grown up in El Dorado, Kansas near Girard, Kansas a socialist Mecca during the early 1900s.
Girard, Kansas was the home of the largest circulation, socialist newspaper in America, Appeal to Reason, edited by Julius
Wayland. The Appeal boasted a number of prominent writers of the progressive movement such as, Jack London, Upton
Sinclair, “Mother” Jones, Eugene Debs and Helen Keller. Upton Sinclair’s famous novel, The Jungle, was first published as
a serial in Appeal to Reason. There is no direct evidence to indicate the socialist atmosphere in Kansas affected the views
of Barack’s grandfather’s family. However, Stanley Dunham was the son of Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham, named after
the famous transcendentalist poet who was heavily involved in the antebellum utopian commune movement and a
participant in the communal experiments of Brooks Farm. Obviously socialism and communism were no strangers to the
Dunham family.
In Hawaii, Barack attended Sunday School at the politically active Church, The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu. First
Unitarian was a sanctuary for draft dodgers and had close ties to the Students for a Democratic Society during the sixties.
As a youth, Barack became close to a friend of the Dunham family, Frank Marshall Davis; a writer for the communist
newspaper, the Honolulu Record. Davis remained a close friend and mentor of Barack throughout his formative teen-age
years. Obama speaks of him fondly in his book Dreams of My Father. Dr. John Drew, writing for the American Thinker
describes Obama as a “doctrinaire Marxist revolutionary” when he met him at Occidental College in 1980.
In 1981, Obama transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a B.A. in political science with a
specialty in International Relations. After graduating, he worked at the Business International Corporation and then at the
New York Public Interest Research Group. From 1985 to 1988 he worked on Chicago’s far south side as Director of the
Developing Communities Project and community organizer. During his time at DCP he set up a job training program, a
college prep training course, and a tenant’s rights program at the Altgeld Gardens public housing project. During this time
he also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.
In 1988 he enrolled in Harvard Law School where he was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of
his first year. As the first black editor of the Law Review, he gained national publicity leading to a publishing contract and
advance for a book on race relations. The book was published in mid-1995 as Dreams of My Father. Critics, using
computer analyses have questioned his authorship of the book suggesting it may have been written by his friend and
former Weatherman, William Ayers. In 1991 he accepted a temporary position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at
the University of Chicago. He later served as lecturer, and still later as senior lecturer, teaching constitutional law.
In 1992 he worked as director of Illinois’ Project Vote, an affiliate of ACORN. Project Vote had a staff of ten with seven
hundred volunteer registrars. It achieved its goal of registering 150,000 to 400,000 unregistered African Americans in
Illinois for the ‘92 elections. From 1993 to 2004 he was an associate at Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a law firm
specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development. During that time he also served on the boards
of the Woods Fund of Chicago and the Joyce Foundation. From 1995 to 1999 he was also the director and chairman of
the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.
The $49.2 million Annenberg Challenge grant was awarded to the Chicago Public Schools based on a proposal written by
William Ayers, associate professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and co-director of Small Schools
Workshop; Anne Hallett, executive director and founder of the Cross-City Campaign for Urban School Reform; and
Warren Chapman, senior program officer for education at the Joyce Foundation. Barack Obama served as founding
chairman and president of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to September, 1999, when he resigned to run in
the Democratic Primary of 2000 for the 1st Congressional District of Illinois. At the time Obama was also a sitting Illinois
State Senator.
Obama’s Political Career
In 1994 Illinois State Senator, Alice Palmer announced she would be running for the U.S. Congressional seat vacated by
Mel Reynolds after his conviction for obstruction of justice and child pornography and would not seek reelection to the
Illinois Senate. A week later, Obama announced that he would be running for her Senate seat. Obama had the support of
two powerful Illinois Politicians Abner Mikva and Emil Jones. He also had the support of the Democratic Socialists of
America. At a fund-raiser in the home of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn, Obama was introduced by Senator Palmer as her
choice for her replacement. After losing badly in the special Democratic Primary, Palmer changed her mind and decided to
run for reelection herself.
There were five candidates vying for Palmer’s Senate seat in the primary election of 1996. On the first filing day for
nominating petitions, Obama filed his with more than 3,000 signatures. Obama’s campaign challenged the petitions of all
four of his competitors and was successful in getting them all disqualified so that he was able to run unopposed in the
Primary.
In the general election he received 83% of the vote while his Republican challenger, Rosette Caldwell Peyton received only
5%. Obama was sworn in for a two-year term as state Senator for Illinois’ 13th District on January 8, 1997. In 1998, he
ran unopposed for reelection in the primary and received 89% of the vote in the general. The first time Republican
candidate received 11%. In 2002 he ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections. In the March 2000 primary,
Obama challenged U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush for his seat but received only 31% of the vote, loosing heavily among
black voters.
At the time Obama ran for the Illinois Senate in 1996 he had dual-membership in the Democratic Party and in the New
Party; a small secondary party sponsored by the Democratic Socialist of America. Since then Obama has publicly denied
any association with the New Party.
The following is a copy of a page appearing on the New Party website in 1996. The page has since been scrubbed but was
archived by the non-profit Internet Archive Organization. The page, which was originally published on the NP website as
an update on the 1996 primary election, was retrieved by the Power Line website and published on its site October 8,
2008. Notice that the three candidates listed under Illinois are all listed as members of the New Party.
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