Progressive Party reborn.

• Author: McCallister, Mike
• Position: Wisconsin

Wisconsin, the state that spawned the Progressive Party in 1912, has a new third party. Efforts to build an alternative to the Democratic Party came to a head in May, when the state's Labor-Farm Party merged with Progressive Milwaukee and the New Party to form the New Progressive Party.

Labor-Farm has captured local offices in Madison, but since its birth in 1982, a strong statewide presence has eluded it.

The New Party--which merged with Progressive Milwaukee last year--champions the idea of electoral "fusion," as practiced in New York, where the Liberal Party can endorse the major-party candidates of its choice.

Cross-endorsement was the main stumbling block in merger talks among Wisconsin's alternative parties. But delegates...