He was the legislative insider, a power in the marbled chambers of City Hall, an enigma to Philadelphia at large.

But last night, John Street heard a thousand people chanting his name.

"Street! Street! Street!"

The noise echoed from the steel walls of the sheet-metal workers union hall on Delaware Avenue. It rose from a crowd of Democratic ward leaders and committee members who had gathered for the party's annual preelection cocktail party and pep rally.

"Street! Street! Street!"

Sure, the event was planned. Sure, party members have a lot to lose if Street loses. Sure, the ever-popular Mayor Rendell had pumped up the crowd.

But there it was: "Street! Street! Street!"

It was a golden moment for a political figure who has long been more respected than loved.

Street seemed buoyed by the reception. Speaking from a stage packed with Democratic elected officials, he said it had taken a long time for the party to recover from a divisive five-way primary for mayor in May.

"Now, we are all Democrats," he said. "We are all Democrats in this room. And as Democrats, we almost never pass up an opportunity to have a good fight. . . . But the primary is over, and we are now together."

Rendell, who cannot seek reelection after two terms, put his hand on Street's right shoulder and told the noisy assembly that the former Council president was "without question - including me - the most qualified candidate ever to run for the mayor of Philadelphia."

Hardly anyone referred directly to Republican Sam Katz, who is making a strong bid to become the first Republican elected mayor in half a century.

Street said earlier yesterday that polls showing Katz and him in a dead heat two weeks ago had galvanized his supporters to work harder for him.

Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of almost 4-1 in Philadelphia. Katz's strength, in part, is based on racial voting patterns. He is white and Street is black.

Pat Gillespie, the leader of the building-trades union council, told the throng: "The other guy has one credential - the color of his skin. That is nonsense. This should be a runaway election."

The party rally came on the heels of an event earlier yesterday in which Tipper Gore campaigned for Street in an appearance at the Warwick Hotel.

Gore, wife of Vice President Gore, told 150 women at an afternoon tea that it was important for the city to keep a Democrat as mayor.

The appearance was one of several high-visibility events that Street hopes will lend glamour to the closing days of a long, plodding campaign.

President Clinton is scheduled to be in town Oct. 29, probably accompanied by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Hundreds of Democratic ward leaders and committee members gathered last night at a union hall on Delaware Avenue. Trade unions will rally for Street tomorrow night in the Northeast.

The carefully choreographed excitement means one thing: The Nov. 2 election is just two weeks away.

"It matters who you elect," Gore told the women, who had each paid $250 for the "Tea with Tipper" at Center City's Warwick Hotel.

"Politics is personal," Gore told the crowd, echoing a maxim of the late Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, longtime speaker of the House of Representatives. "It matters in your daily life."

As Street spoke from a dais ringed by Secret Service agents assigned to protect Gore, two congressmen walked into the crowded room on the second floor of the hotel.

One was Robert A. Brady, the city Democratic chairman. The other was Ron Klink, a Pittsburgh-area representative who expects to run for Senate next year.

Street motioned the two men onto the dais. Brady gave Street a bear hug and then stood with Klink behind him, in full view of television cameras.

Schwartz, who also plans to run for the Senate seat held by Republican Rick Santorum, looked annoyed at Brady's move.

She said later that Brady "says he's neutral" in the Senate race. If that is so, she said, "he ought to act neutral." Yet he inserted Klink into the limelight at a women's event, she said.

Street himself learned a lesson at the event.

If he gets another chance to introduce Tipper Gore, he will not call her "second lady of the United States."

It turns out she is not very fond of that title. But there was no harm done.

Gore got a laugh by saying, "John is not the first person who has had a little difficulty in introducing me. I've been called a lot of things. One of the things I really don't care for, actually, is second lady."

But Gore was nothing if not gracious. She said she hoped one day to introduce Street's wife, Naomi Post Street, as "first lady of Philadelphia."