Four months before the May primary, organized labor, one of the core constituencies of the Democratic Party and a key source of money and logistical support for its candidates, has yet to coalesce behind a contender for governor.

That's a sharp contrast from 2002, the last time an open governor's seat was contested in Pennsylvania. At the equivalent point in that election cycle, Sen. Bob Casey Jr. had long since been endorsed by the state AFL-CIO and would enter the primary with the backing of most of its member unions. Despite that support, the free-spending Ed Rendell would go onto to a relatively easy victory in the 2002 primary.

While there's no unanimous favorite for labor in this year's field, neither is there a candidate who sparks widespread antipathy.

"Most of them are good on our issues to one degree or another," said Rick Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, said of the five Democratic contenders.

In 2001 and 2002, much of labor was motivated by admiration for Mr. Casey and his family's liberal economic legacy, but also by deeply felt opposition to Mr. Rendell. While the Philadelphian had the support of some groups, such as building trade unions who had prospered under the economic development initiatives he pursued as mayor, more labor officials had been alienated by stands against public employee unions Mr. Rendell took as mayor of a cash-strapped city.

Mr. Rendell and labor quickly mended fences after he won the nomination -- he won the group's endorsement for his re-election -- but he was anathema to much of labor in a primary in which unions poured millions into his opponent's unsuccessful campaign.

The AFL-CIO endorsement of Mr. Casey came in August 2001, nearly a year before the 2002 primary. Mr. Bloomingdale said this week that while many individual unions have started interviewing candidates and polling their members, the statewide labor group had yet to start its formal deliberations.

"We have not started our process yet because we've been waiting to see who's actually going to be in this thing and who is jockeying to be lieutenant governor," he said.

He also noted that given the current five-person field, it was conceivable that no one would be able to amass the two-thirds support required to get the AFL-CIO's formal backing. But that will not prevent individual unions from lining up behind their favorites, providing the financial and logistical support that accompanies their endorsements.

Among the most coveted of those are the large public employees' unions, AFSCME and SEIU; the teachers unions, PSEA and PFT; and the traditional industrial unions such as the Steelworkers, the Teamsters and the various building trades.

As of late last week, none had publicly chosen a candidate. And while most tend to back Democrats, it's not unusual for Republican candidates to win labor support.

"My sense is that the field is completely fluid right now and labor is waiting to see who's in and who's out," said Josh Morrow, a spokesman for the campaign of Tom Knox, the Philadelphia businessman who's among the hopefuls for the nomination that will be decided on May 18.

"As the campaign picks up, we've been working very hard to earn the support of organized labor, and we hope and expect to have some announcements coming up," said Dan Fee, a spokesman for Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.

The other Democratic candidates are Chris Doherty, the mayor of Scranton; Joe Hoeffel, a Montgomery County commissioner; and state Auditor General Jack Wagner.

"People are hurting. Labor sees that as well or better than anyone," said Mr. Wagner. "We need the economy to improve and that's the central theme with most of the labor leaders. As a result, I think they're taking a good hard look at what the candidates are saying about their issues and that may take some time."

Mr. Bloomingdale had a similar analysis of the ongoing labor assessment.

"Our members are frustrated; there's huge dissatisfaction with the jobs situation," he said. "We're going to be talking to these guys a lot about their economic development strategy."

Recent polls suggest that the relatively nebulous statewide labor position on the race parallels the position of many voters. A mid-December survey conducted by Quinnipiac University found that three out of five registered Democrats were undecided in the race. Mr. Onorato was in first place in that poll, but with the support of only 14 percent of the sample. The other four were clustered together in single digits.

The Republican candidates are Attorney General Tom Corbett and state Rep. Sam Rohrer of Berks County.

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