Some of my best friends are.... i mean I need votes,

PITTSBURGH, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush, seeking on Monday to boost his dismal support among black voters, vowed to keep fighting unemployment that has hit their ranks much harder than it has whites.

"We will not stop, we will not tire until we extend the great promise of America to every neighborhood in America," Bush told the annual meeting of the National Urban League, a nonprofit group that promotes economic advancement and civil rights for blacks.

Seven of the nine Democrats vying to succeed Bush in the 2004 election were to address the group later on Monday, in the first major same-day matchup of the election season.

"This president has turned his back on African Americans," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, one of the Democrats planning to address the meeting, told Reuters after Bush's appearance. "Under this president, 650,000 African Americans have lost their jobs."