Yesterday was the time for all good carpenters to come to the aid of their party.

And why not? There were free hoagies and hot dogs with sauerkraut and cold kegs of Bud Light tapped right there on Spring Garden Street in Fairmount, courtesy of the Carpenters Union and Metropolitan District Council 1803.

But as we all know, unless you're the mayor, there's no such thing as a free hoagie. And the hundred or so political action committee reps from the 16 union locals represented had another party in mind: the Democratic Party - and getting John Street elected mayor.

After the feed yesterday, they put their money where their mouths were and anted up $25,000 to the former City Council president's hotly contested run for office. In May, union president Ed Coryell handed Street a check for $100,000.

"We supported Wilson Goode for two terms," said Coryell, assuring a reporter that his 10,000 members have traditionally stood behind the Democratic candidate.

"Surprisingly, they feel very good about John Street. He's always been there for us in Council."

And yesterday certainly, Street couldn't have come to the party with a better date: city Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady, the only card-carrying Carpenter's Union member of Congress.

If, as one union representative confided, "no one is going to stand in the rain to vote for John Street," they would probably swim the Schuylkill for the burly Brady, who, along with City Controller Jonathan Saidel, fired up the happy-hour crowd with a rousing speech that suggested their lifestyles were at stake if Republican Sam Katz got elected.

"If it was up to them, forget about unions, forget about the working class, there would be none of us," Brady thundered to the dozens of carpenters, pile-drivers and floor-layers assembled in the low-ceilinged basement union hall, filled thick with the aroma of sauerkraut and cigar smoke.

"We can't make that happen in this town. This ain't about me, this ain't about you, this ain't about him [Street]. This is about our families, our people, our lives. And believe me, let the Republicans take control and this town is gone dead."

The rhetoric rubbed off on Street, who in recent days appears to have shed some of his reticence and become more engaging in public forums.

Yesterday he even joked about his infamous Council floor fight with Fran Rafferty. "We had a couple of bad days."

Perhaps most important to those gathered, he pledged to work for labor.

"That's what we are all about - hard work," Street said. "Nobody gives us anything. You work for everything you get. . .We have to make sure we protect.

"If a stadium is built non-union in Philadelphia, it's going to be in Philadelphia, Mississippi," he said to cheers.

"I believe in partnerships. A partnership is 'I'm looking out for you, and you're looking out for me.' "

All he should need is a party - and a sunny day.