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(some city) (Mayor A) said in an interview that one leading (candidate from a political party) vying to replace him is running a "racist" campaign based on "class warfare."

(Mayor A) made the comment about (candidate B) in an interview with (some)magazine due on newsstands Monday. It appeared on the magazine's website Saturday.

(candidate B) is white, but he has been polling well among blacks since he began airing television ads featuring his interracial family. His wife is black and the couple has a son and a daughter. (candidate B) has also criticized (Mayor A) as not doing enough for the poor, saying (some city) has become "two cities," one for the rich and one for everyone else.


In asking (Mayor A) about the mayor's race, the interviewer calls (candidate B)'s bid "in some ways ... a class-warfare campaign." Bloomberg interjects, "class-warfare and racist," according to the magazine.

Asked to explain what makes (candidate B)'s campaign racist, (Mayor A) responded, "Well, no, no, I mean he's making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching what he's been doing. I do not think he himself is racist. It's comparable to me pointing out I'm Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote."

(Mayor A) said he also found (Candidate B)'s "two cities" rhetoric divisive.

(some city)'s wealthiest residents, he said, contribute tremendously to the city and also deliver a huge amount of tax revenue that gives the city financial muscle that other municipalities lack.

"The way to help those who are less fortunate is, number one, to attract more very fortunate people. They are the ones that pay the bills. The people that would get very badly hurt here if you drive out the very wealthy are the people he professes to try to help," (Mayor A) said. "He's a very populist, very left-wing guy, but this city is not two groups, and if to some extent it is, it's one group paying for services for the other."

(Mayor A) also implied that poor (citizens of some city) have never had it better.

"By most of the world's standards, you ain't poor," said (Mayor A), noting that in some corners of the globe, people don't have access to things like air conditioning or own their own cars. "I'm not being cavalier about it, but most places in the world our poor are wealthy. There's a lot of tragedy around the world."

At a campaign event on Saturday, (candidate B) called the remarks "very unfortunate."

"I hope he'll realize that it was inappropriate and I think the people of this city are ready for us to move forward again," de Blasio said. "We have run a campaign about the ideas, about the issues, about how to move this city forward."

(Mayor A) said he favors Republican (C) and Democrat (D) among the major candidates.

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(some city)'s wealthiest residents, he said, contribute tremendously to the city and also deliver a huge amount of tax revenue that gives the city financial muscle that other municipalities lack.

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"The way to help those who are less fortunate is, number one, to attract more very fortunate people. They are the ones that pay the bills. The people that would get very badly hurt here if you drive out the very wealthy are the people he professes to try to help," (Mayor A) said. "He's a very populist, very left-wing guy, but this city is not two groups, and if to some extent it is, it's one group paying for services for the other."

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