Casey gets early backing from labor for 2002 bid Union leaders say they hope to avoid a gubernatorial primary battle with Rendell. Casey gets early backing from labor for 2002

A year before the first votes are cast for governor, Pennsylvania Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr. has sewn up the support of much of organized labor, a crucial force in Democratic primaries.

Twelve unions, with more than 600,000 members, have endorsed Casey in his expected battle for the nomination with former Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell.

The state's largest union representing government workers - with a long memory of Rendell's hard line against city workers nearly a decade ago - climbed aboard the juggernaut Saturday, endorsing Casey unanimously.

"Casey is head and shoulders above Rendell," said Ed Keller, executive director of the 75,000-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 13. "The press tabbed him 'America's Mayor.' To public employees, Eddie is 'America's Nightmare.' "

This is unusually early for labor to choose sides in a contested Democratic primary, but union leaders say uniting behind one candidate is the party's best chance of ending a decade of Republican domination in statewide races.

The unions have pledged to organize get-out-the-vote operations for Casey. Pollsters estimate that at least 30 percent of the voters in a typical Democratic primary belong to union households.

Some union leaders, such as Keller, remain angry about wage and benefit concessions Rendell forced from Philadelphia workers during the early 1990s, and about his proposals for privatizing some services. Others chafe at the memory of Rendell, as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, advising Al Gore on TV to concede the presidency during the Florida recount battle.

But most say they are making the simple political calculation that Casey, who is from Scranton and the son of the late Gov. Robert P. Casey, has a better chance than Rendell of winning statewide, where Philadelphia ties can be political liabilities.

"It's not that we have an ax to grind against Rendell, but I don't think he'll be able to beat Casey," said Edward Keyser of Philadelphia, president of the 90,000-member Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters.

"When you get outside the metro area, Rendell's not that popular. . . . He's a charming individual. I like the guy. But it's not about that. It's about who will be governor."