Mayor Bloomberg traveled to the presidential swing state of Ohio yesterday to announce the addition of 14 mayors to his coalition against illegal guns.

While the event itself was practically routine for the mayor, given that he has been trying to recruit new members for months, his presence in the state that swung the 2004 presidential election, sparked more questions about his own presidential ambitions.

Mr. Bloomberg has publicly denied that he is planning to run for president, but his travels around the country and the high-profile policy campaigns he has taken on seem to tell a different story.

Yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg appeared with Cincinnati’s mayor, Mark Mallory, and 13 other mayors from Ohio and Kentucky to urge Congress to repeal a measure that blocks the release of gun trace data for anything other than criminal investigations and prosecutions. That exclusion precludes information about a gun from being used in civil lawsuits against gun dealers, a strategy Mr. Bloomberg is pursuing.

“It fundamentally — in a post-9/11 world — keeps police officers from sharing information,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

The National Rifle Association, a group the mayor has exchanged barbs with, has been a proponent of the amendment, arguing that it protects the privacy of gun owners.

Yesterday’s event in Ohio, a state that has 20 electoral votes, is one of many the mayor has attended out of state in his second term. And those at the event duly noted its political significance.

Mr. Mallory, like many politicians Mr. Bloomberg appears with, faced repeated questions about whether he would support Mr. Bloomberg in a bid for president. “I think Mayor Bloomberg will do well at whatever he attempts,” he said.