Now We Have Legally Nazis in DC } The More Things Change The More they Stay the Same

The American Nazi Party has registered its first lobbyist in Washington DC.

John Bowles, 55, told US media he wanted to address political rights and ballot access and he expected congressmen would accept meetings.

Lobbying was something the party would "try out for the first time and see if it flies," Mr Bowles told ABC News. He registered as a lobbyist this week.

Lobbying is a common practice in US politics and lobby groups are required to disclose their interests in detail.

Mr Bowles' Capitol Hill registration also listed his lobbying interests as agriculture, clean air and water, civil rights, the constitution, healthcare, immigration, manufacturing, and retirement.

Mr Bowles said he would not be paid for his work on Capitol Hill and would take a "careful and objective" approach.

"I'm not going to go in and shove a swastika in their face," he said.

He conceded that there might be some resistance to holding meetings with him. "There might be some congressmen who crumple up the paper and some who say: 'This is interesting,'" he told ABC.

Mr Bowles also said that his move to officially register as a lobbyist was inspired by his reading of the constitution, congressional newspaper The Hill reported.

Mr Bowles previously stood as a presidential candidate for the National Socialist Movement in 2008.

The American Nazi Party traces its ideology to George Lincoln Rockwell, who founded a post-war National Socialist white supremacist movement in the US.

The group reportedly holds meetings in South Carolina and lists a postal address via a post office box in Michigan.

The reminder of 20th Century ideology comes at the end of a week in which Florida Congressman Allen West said publicly that as many as 81 members of Congress are active members of the Communist Party. http://www.bbc.co.uk