Fifteen weeks later, he is still reaching.

Headed into the Labor Day weekend, the traditional start of a fall election campaign, Street has yet to receive any signal of support from two of the four principal Democrats who opposed him.

Street might need a reasonably united Democratic party to fend off Republican Sam Katz, an experienced and well-financed candidate who on Nov. 2 could pose a threat to a half-century of Democratic control in City Hall.

Yet only Marty Weinberg - who spent millions on TV ads that painted Street as a thug and tax deadbeat - has appeared with Street at a news conference this summer to announce his support for him.

State Rep. Dwight Evans, who alone joined Street for a "unity luncheon" on the day after the primary, has not said a word about Street in public since then.

John White Jr. and Happy Fernandez have have been altogether silent.

Street, standing with Weinberg June 24 at Democratic headquarters, said he expected to convene a news conference "just like this one" with each of the other former foes.

That could yet happen. But the silence has sent a clear message that Street is struggling to pull together a Democratic Party that was badly divided in the fiercely fought primary.

Most traditional elements of the Democratic Party - the party leadership, the ward leaders, the labor unions - are marching behind Street. It is the former foes and some of their backers who remain the holdouts.

Yesterday, White and 35 to 45 of his supporters were still trying to decide what to do.

Since finishing third in the primary, White has managed to hold together his campaign team, a rare feat for a losing candidate.

The group, which has been courted by Katz to cross party lines and support him this fall, met with Katz last week around the polished table in the board room of Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley, a Center City law firm.

It was Street's turn to meet with White's group yesterday morning. He spoke for more than an hour and was well received, according to two White supporters who were present.

The group will meet again next week to decide what, if anything, to do in the way of an endorsement.

A. Bruce Crawley, acting as Street's spokesman yesterday, said he expected that, ultimately, White "will be right where he ought to be - firmly in support of his party's candidate."

"Any time it happens will be just fine with us," Crawley said. "We expect there will be some movement on this after Labor Day."

The mere fact that any group of prominent Democrats was still dithering over the race on the last day of August was itself proof that Street has fences to mend.

The Democratic nominee in a Democratic town, Street goes into the campaign favored to win.

But the race of the candidates will play a role. Street, who is black, can expect to receive a majority of black votes. Katz, who is white, can expect to receive a majority of white votes. That is the clear historical pattern.

Pollsters and political insiders have identified progressive whites, along with a percentage of middle-class blacks, as groups that could play a key role in a reasonably close election.

If that is true, then White's endorsement could be important. His voters in May were just those sorts of people.

White, now a public-housing consultant to business, did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. He met with Street for lunch at a public place in July. But afterward, talking to reporters, he pointedly did not endorse Street.

He said that Katz would have to go over a "high hurdle" to gain his endorsement over Street, an old friend and fellow Democrat. But he did not rule it out.

Fernandez, the former City Council member who last month was named president of the Moore College of Art and Design, said yesterday that she, too, had met with both Katz and Street.

"I would not do anything as the president of Moore," she said. "The question is, would I do anything as a private citizen - and that's unclear."

Evans, who was reported away on vacation, could not be reached for comment yesterday through his legislative office in West Oak Lane.

Crawley said that he already counted Evans as a Street supporter and that Evans had been working behind the scenes to help Street.

Evans, he said, had been talking to other Democratic legislators in Harrisburg, reminding them that if Democrats held onto the mayor's office in Philadelphia, it would help them regain control of the House next year. Republicans hold 103 seats to the Democrats' 100.

"John Street is doing what any winning candidate does after a fractious primary," Crawley said. "He is reuniting his party."