Evidence has been discovered by National Review Online that Obama did formally join The New Party in 1996. The New Party was a socialist/communist party based in Chicago. Obama joined when he was running for state senate in Illinois. Obama's representative had previously denied Obama's membership, calling the accusation a "crackpot smear".
From National Review Online:
On the evening of January 11, 1996, while Mitt Romney was in the final years of his run as the head of, Barack Obama formally joined the New Party, which was deeply hostile to the mainstream of the Democratic party and even to American capitalism. In 2008, candidate Obama deceived the American public about his potentially damaging tie to this third party. The issue remains as fresh as today’s headlines, as Romney argues that Obama is trying to move the United States toward European-style social democracy, which was precisely the New Party’s goal.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...-stanley-kurtz#