It's a long race, but in the end, the candidate comes home.

And if home is anywhere for an African-American Democrat in a Philadelphia mayor's race, it's in the black churches that were the heart of Wilson Goode's crusade for office in 1983.

Democratic mayoral candidate John Street made appearances at four churches yesterday, giving speeches with tent revival intensity at three. The point was not to persuade - this was literally preaching to the choir. It was to energize turnout.

"You know, people come up to me and tell me, 'you can't lose,' " Street told hundreds at Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philadelphia. "Well if the good Democrats of this city snooze, we can lose. We've got to get fired up!" The Street campaign has made use of political celebrities on behalf of their candidate in the final week, and Street toured yesterday with Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, Washington Mayor Anthony Williams and New Orleans Mayor Mark Morial.

Archer warmed up for Street at the Christian Tabernacle Church, evoking memories that struck a responsive chord with the crowd.

"I want you to think back with me about Rosa Parks, and Medgar Evers and Malcolm X . . . about those who gave up their lives so that we would have the right to vote," Archer told the crowd. "If you don't vote, you don't count!"

The service at Christian Tabernacle was punctuated by a set of drums, an electric bass guitar in addition to tambourines and organ music. Street exhorted the crowd to bring their friends and neighbors to the polls tomorrow.

"This is not going to be decided by editorial endorsements," said Street, who did not get the endorsements from the Inquirer or Daily News, "because they don't vote. You vote, you decide!"

While the response to Street was near-frenzied at Christian Tabernacle, it was supportive but less enthusiastic at the massive Deliverance Evangelistic Church.

Choir members and worshipers throughout the morning cooled themselves with hand-held fans - a stick bearing a cardboard likeness of Street - distributed by the campaign.

The campaign also offered a 16-page tabloid-size handout which featured endorsements of Street from dozens of Democrats, and a page which pictured Republican candidate Sam Katz with such GOP notables as Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover and Calvin Coolidge.

Street made several afternoon stops at sports bars to greet unhappy Eagles fans, and finished the day with a rally at Vine Memorial Baptist Church in West Philadelphia.

The Street campaign kept up its barrage of television advertising, featuring praise from Mayor Rendell, attacks against Katz and a recitation of Street's experience and accomplishments.

Rendell will join Street tomorrow greeting morning commuters at 15th and Market. The campaign will finish with a day of retail campaigning and preparations for a massive Election Day field effort.