Luke Skywalker
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Michael Bloomberg moved into politics after gaining wealth and clout through Bloomberg LP, the world's leading financial news and information company. As mayor of New York, he led the city through tight budgets during the recession and pushed for controversial health policies, including banning large sodas. Bloomberg was a Republican candidate when he won the mayoral races in 2001 and 2005, but he switched to independent for his third term.
called off in December 2002 after transit workers and their management worked out a deal." border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto002" width="640"/>Bloomberg, second from right, rides to City Hall on the R train in March 2002 after New York transit workers authorized union leaders to call a strike. Bloomberg, dealing with a $1 billion budget shortfall, had refused union demands for a 24% wage increase over three years. The strike was called off in December 2002 after transit workers and their management worked out a deal.
Bloomberg is sworn in by New York Judge Judith S. Kaye as Bloomberg's mother, Charlotte Bloomberg, holds the Bible on the steps of City Hall in January 2002.
Bloomberg attends a New York Yankees pep rally at City Hall in October 2003.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner shares a laugh with Bloomberg during a news conference in June 2005 announcing plans for a new $800 million stadium.
New York Times. " border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto006" width="640"/>Bloomberg sits in a Ford Escape hybrid taxicab donated by Yahoo after he announced in May 2007 that the city's taxi fleet would be fully hybrid by 2012. The plan fell through after judges ruled in 2008 that the city couldn't penalize taxi drivers who didn't use hybrid cars, according to The New York Times.
Bloomberg holds a news conference on gun control in July 2007 on Capitol Hill in Washington, where he traveled to lobby against the Tiahrt Amendments, measures that regulate access to gun-tracing data.
See more on Bloomberg's controversial health bans" border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto008" width="640"/>Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Bloomberg take questions at a news conference announcing their charitable support for a new global anti-smoking initiative in July 2008. Gates and Bloomberg announced their combined contribution of half a billion dollars to combat global smoking. See more on Bloomberg's controversial health bans
Bloomberg joins volunteers to bag apples for poor families as part of a Mandela Day event in July 2009. Mandela Day is a celebration of Nelson Mandela's life and legacy. It encourages good works and volunteerism around the world.
Bloomberg celebrates winning a third term as mayor in November 2009.
Bloomberg inspects the large cavern being constructed for the 34th Street subway station on February 2010. The new station is part of a $2.1 billion expansion project, the first subway expansion in Manhattan for decades.
Bloomberg marches in the 249th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in March 2010.
British Prime Minister David Cameron eats a hot dog with Bloomberg outside New York's Penn Station on July 21, 2010. Cameron met with Bloomberg and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his visit to New York.
Bloomberg announces the formation of the "Second Chance on Shoot First" campaign at the National Press Club in April 2012 in Washington. After the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida, Bloomberg was joined by leaders from the NAACP, the National Urban League and other organizations to launch the effort to reform and repeal "stand your ground" gun laws.
Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly look at the New York Memorial Wall during an unveiling in October 2012. The city added the names of 15 officers who died the previous year.
In October 2012, Bloomberg views damage in the Breezy Point area of Queens, where a fire destroyed about 80 homes as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Sandy killed at least 113 people in the United States and heavily damaged New York's infrastructure.
Bloomberg kicks with the Rockettes in Times Square on New Year's Eve 2013.
From left, Bloomberg, New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Ben Fried, chief information officer for Google, cut Ethernet cables at a news event where it was announced that free Wi-Fi would be provided to the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea in January 2013.
Bloomberg and Schumer shop in the newly reopened Fairway Market on the waterfront in Red Hook in March 2013. Fairway closed after severe flooding during Hurricane Sandy.
Bloomberg holds a large cup as he speaks to the media about the health impacts of sugar in March 2013.
London Mayor Boris Johnson talks with Bloomberg on the balcony of London's City Hall after launching the Mayors Challenge in Europe. The Mayors Challenge is a competition, with prize money coming from Bloomberg's philanthropic foundation, that challenges cities to find innovative and creative ideas to solve problems faced by urban living.
In October, on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, Bloomberg, center, stands on a rig installing a new sea wall in the Rockaways.
Bloomberg shakes hands with Larry Silverstein, the developer who held the lease to the World Trade Center buildings in 2001, after cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony of Four World Trade Center. It's the first tower to open at the original site of the World Trade Center.
Talk show host Jimmy Fallon welcomes Bloomberg to join him in writing thank-you notes in December.
Bloomberg speaks to the Economic Club of New York in December in his last major speech as mayor.
Bloomberg walks through the crowd outside City Hall as he leaves for the last time as mayor.
Bloomberg, right, participates in a "Toward Universal Health Coverage for 2030" seminar in April during the IMF/World Bank's Spring Meetings in Washington.
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- The gun control group will focus on electing gun safety advocates to office
- Everytown for Gun Safety will become the umbrella for other gun control groups
- The effort will target 15 states
- Moms and voters are the key outreach demographic
(CNN) -- Michael Bloomberg is investing a chunk of his personal fortune to minimize the influence of the National Rifle Association.
The former New York City mayor pledged $50 million to his new group Everytown for Gun Safety, an umbrella organization for his two other gun control groups: Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. It aims to make the political climate more supportive of gun control.
The new organization plans to compete against the NRA by adopting its playbook. The NRA has built an impressive and effective organization that touts millions of members, a robust lobbying organization and a massive campaign arm.
"You've got to work at it piece by piece," Bloomberg told the The New York Times.
Inside Politics: $50 mil. to combat NRA
In its grass-roots operation, Everytown plans to increase its membership from 1.5 million to 2.5 million this year to implement its education and mobilization efforts. The group will focus on 15 states that have liberal gun laws, including Texas, Montana and Indiana. States that have advanced gun control initiatives will also receive attention, including Colorado and Washington.
Bloomberg says no, again, to 2016
"The NRA should be afraid," said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. Women, and more particularly mothers, will be the key demographic in the outreach to curb gun violence.
"Moms are afraid that our children will be taken away. In the end, that's the emotion that's going to win."
But influencing those in charge of writing gun policy will be the ultimate goal of the organization, which is also creating a political action committee to elect gun safety candidates to office and a 501(c)(4), an IRS classification used to raise unlimited amounts of money to influence voters. It aims to motivate a million pro-gun safety voters to go to the polls in November.
In addition, like the NRA, the organization will submit a gun safety questionnaire to candidates and keep a score card of how elected officials vote on gun-related issues.
"If the candidate doesn't support gun reform, we won't support you," Watts said.
With an infusion of cash from Bloomberg, matching the NRA's financial heft will be a little less daunting. The NRA has spent more than $30 million lobbying elected officials since 1998. Its efforts have been very successful in Congress over the past decade, defeating attempts to ban assault weapons and expand background checks.
On the electioneering side of the influence game, the NRA's political action committee has spent nearly $150 million on campaigns since 1990. Already in the first two months of this midterm election year, the powerful gun group raised $14 million, according to public data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
President of Everytown, John Feinblatt, said the group's 34,000 donors will also play a critical role in rivaling the NRA.
"I don't want to lay blame anywhere, but it is a reality that the gun lobby has an incredible amount of political influence with members of Congress in Washington," Mark Kelly, a prominent gun control advocate, told CNN in December. Kelly's wife is former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was severely wounded in a shooting in Arizona in 2011.
"I mean, it's very clear that many members take their cues on this issue from the gun lobby," he said.
The NRA has little to say about Bloomberg's pledge, for now.
"See you in Indianapolis next week. We'll have a lot more to say then," spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN. He was referring to the group's annual conference, which takes place next week in Indianapolis.
Bloomberg's activism for gun safety increased after repeated mass shootings. His efforts to expand background checks after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School failed to pass either the House or the Senate, despite pressure from the Obama administration.
The organization wants to expand background checks, keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, crack down on gun trafficking and educate parents about the safe storage of guns.
