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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to host a meeting of leading progressive elected officials and activists at Gracie Mansion on Thursday with the explicit goal of forcing the issue of income inequality to the forefront of the national political debate and the 2016 elections.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, de Blasio said his frustrations with the messaging by Democratic candidates during the 2014 midterms and the overall failure among elected officials to tackle income inequality head-on led him to conclude that progressives must be more aggressive in elevating the issue.

As a Democrat, I am very disappointed that my party has not spoken with a clearer voice on this issue, de Blasio said.

The mayor said that influencing the dialogue in the 2016 presidential race is not the sole purpose of the effort he hopes to organize.

He would not directly address whether he thinks former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton should outline bold proposals to reduce income inequality.

The mayor was Clintons Senate campaign manager in 2000, and she attended his inauguration in 2013, along with her husband, former president Bill Clinton. De Blasio was elected mayor running on an unabashedly liberal platform, while both Clintons have been identified more with centrist Democratic ideas. Hillary Clinton is expected to launch her presidential campaign this month.

On presidential candidates in general, my take is, I dont talk about anyone until they are a declared candidate, de Blasio said. But I think many of us feel profound dissatisfaction at the state of the debate in general. I cannot identify any declared candidate who is presenting a holistic vision here. In 2014, many [Democrats] went out of their way to avoid the issue.

He praised President Obama for highlighting income inequality in this years State of the Union address and noted that some Republicans and some business leaders have at least begun to make reference to the issue. But he said that beyond Obamas January speech, nothing since then suggests a course correction on the part of elected officials or prospective candidates.

Asked to assess why Democrats in particular have not been more aggressive on the issue, he said, A lack of leadership and a lack of imagination underlying all of it.

He cited two other obstacles: timidity on the part of political strategists and party consultants to confront the issue more robustly; and the influence of money in politics. Platform, vision and message have been replaced by decisions about resources, he said. Thats not a winning hand.

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N.Y.s de Blasio gathers progressives to kick-start debate on income inequality