Scott Brown. | Mark Sardella via Flickr Bloomberg backs Scott Brown, the N.R.A.'s candidate, against Elizabeth Warren

Almost as if to offer an ideological counterweight to his post-Aurora gun-control crusade, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is backing Senator Scott Brown in his Massachusetts race against liberal darling Elizabeth Warren.

CBS News is reporting the mayor will host a fund-raiser for Brown on August 15 in New York City.


The mayor has spent the days following the Aurora gun massacre extolling the benefits of tighter gun control regulations, and challenging both President Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, to offer something more substantive than "soothing words" on the topic. (Obama, in fact, seemed to do so late yesterday.)

The mayor has also co-founded a bipartisan organization, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, whose mission is to get rid of the loopholes in the nation's gun control regulations, and his chief policy aide has indicated that once the mayor's third term expires next year, he will devote yet more time, and money, to the effort.

While Brown supports a state assault weapons ban, he does not support a federal one, though Warren does.

The National Rifle Association has given Brown an 'A' rating.

Warren, on the other hand, is one of America's most prominent advocates for more muscular regulation of Wall Street. Bloomberg, a registered independent and self-styled centrist whose positions are mostly liberal, does not share her views on that topic.

UPDATE: Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna emailed over the following statement: "The Mayor supports independent, centrist legislators who buck party orthodoxies and build bridges across the aisle that help New York City. Senator Brown has stood up to oppose the concealed carry reciprocity bill, which is the N.R.A.’s top priority, and would let anyone with a permit from a state with weak gun laws like South Carolina or Kentucky carry a hidden weapon in New York City."