By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – At least six presidential hopefuls will attend the National Urban League conference in St. Louis later this week.
Democrats in attendance include Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich as well as Republicans Mike Huckabee and Duncan Hunter.
Notably not in attendance this year are Republican front-runners who N-U-L President Marc Morial says are snubbing the organization at their own expense.
"For Mr. Guiliani, Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney, it demonstrates it demonstrates lake of insight on how crucial the constituency this organization represents is going to be in the 2008 election," Morial said.
"I'm not begging anybody; we provided an opportunity fair and equal to anybody who's name was anywhere gossiped or mentioned or officially announced to be president of the United States."
Considered the preeminent organization advocating on behalf of African Americans, the Urban League has over 100 affiliates across the country.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will also address NUL leadership at a pre-conference luncheon on Wednesday.