ASHINGTON - James P. Hoffa, the president of the Teamsters union, received a long-awaited telephone call a week ago. Vice President Al Gore, who had avoided getting close to a union long associated with corruption, was suggesting that the two men should meet soon.
Now the question is whether Gore has reached out to Hoffa too late. This week, the AFL-CIO is slated to decide at a Los Angeles convention whether to endorse Gore, and Hoffa is leading the push for a delay.
Former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, meanwhile, has been cultivating Hoffa for months and recently endorsed the Teamsters' call for a delay in allowing Mexican trucks to cross the US border with imported goods, while Gore is only reviewing the matter.
While there is little chance that Bradley will win the AFL-CIO endorsement, a delayed endorsement of Gore would be a major setback and embarrassment for the vice president, raising questions about whether he has taken the crucial labor support for granted.
''Gore is going to be endorsed. The question is when,'' AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney, who backs Gore, said in an interview. ''There is nobody, with maybe one or two exceptions, among top leadership who is expressing an interest in endorsing Bradley. But people are listening to what is happening locally. They want to be sure.''
Hoffa, who once ran for office as a Republican, clearly is the major stumbling block to a quick Gore endorsement. The Teamsters are operating under federal supervision, and Hoffa's top priority has been to persuade the Clinton administration to lift that restriction. Hoffa is the son of former Teamsters president James R. ''Jimmy'' Hoffa, who disappeared in 1975 and whose body has never been found. When the younger Hoffa won the presidency of the Teamsters, he raised questions about whether the Clinton administration was meddling in the election on behalf of his opponent, Ron Carey, who was considered more friendly to Democrats than Hoffa.
Indeed, Hoffa said recently that he supports the policies of Republican presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, who opposes various free-trade deals. Hoffa was perceived as being so close to Buchanan that he felt compelled to issue a statement last month denying that he would seek to join Buchanan as a vice presidential candidate on the Reform Party ticket.
While President Clinton last week spoke to the Teamsters and met with Hoffa in New York City, the two men said they didn't discuss a possible endorsement of Gore. The vice president, meanwhile, has found it difficult to form a bond with Hoffa, apparently worrying about leaving any impression that he would use his influence to end the federal supervision of the Teamsters or block free-trade deals in exchange for an endorsement.
Dan Moldea, author of ''The Hoffa Wars'' and a longtime observer of the Teamsters, said Hoffa has signaled to the Democrats that he wouldn't support the vice president.
Still, Moldea said, Hoffa can't afford to alienate Gore since he needs the adminstration's help in ending federal supervision. Thus, it is in Hoffa's interest to seek as much leverage as possible with Clinton and Gore while the vice president is seeking the AFL-CIO endorsement.
For months, the Gore campaign has assumed it would snare the backing of the AFL-CIO easily. That means far more than most endorsements because it carries with it millions of dollars in labor support and advertisements.
But organized labor is not entirely organized when it comes to backing presidential candidates. Several unions, most notably the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers, have differences with both Gore and Bradley over the two candidates' support of free-trade deals.
Bradley, meanwhile, has courted the Teamsters by backing the union's call for a delay in allowing Mexican trucks to cross the US border because of a lack of inspectors. That has prompted questions about whether Bradley is backing away from his support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he helped pass as a senator.
But Bradley, in an interview, strongly denied that he is stepping away from NAFTA.
''NAFTA was something that I helped conceive, quite frankly,'' Bradley said. ''I was the point man in getting it passed. I think it is of the dimension of something like the Louisiana Purchase. When it happened, it changed America, changed what America will become. I strongly support it.''
Bradley called his stance on the Mexican truck inspections ''this little thing. This is a small bump but the path is clear. You don't want unsafe trucks coming into the United States.''
Indeed, Bradley said he doesn't know if he and Gore have any disagreement on labor matters. ''I don't know what his positions are,'' Bradley said.
Gore spokesman Chris Lehane said the vice president is ''reviewing'' the truck issue amid indications that the Clinton administration will side with the Teamsters. Gore, meanwhile, is vigorously wooing labor. At a local Teamsters union meeting Thursday night in Kentucky, Gore said that he had a higher rating as a senator on labor issues than Bradley, even though he comes from the right-to-work state of Tennessee and Bradley comes from the pro-labor state of New Jersey.
All of this sets the stage for a tense round of lobbying next week at the AFL-CIO convention. Tomorrow, the organization's political committee, composed of 10 leaders of various affiliates, is slated to make a recommendation on an endorsement. That recommendation will be passed to a 54-member executive council, which is slated to act Wednesday on a possible endorsement. Hoffa is a member of that council. If the council agrees on an endorsement, it will be passed to the convention's 700 delegates, who then would vote on the matter.
Earlier this year, some AFL-CIO officials said it would take a two-thirds vote of the board to win an endorsement, but they said last week that only a majority is necessary, thus significantly increasing Gore's chances.
The Teamsters, meanwhile, are playing their hand carefully, hoping to use their leverage for maximum effect.
''We have been very impressed by Bradley's effort to build relationships with us,'' Teamsters spokesman Chip Roth said. At the same time, he said, ''It may be that we would eventually endorse the vice president.'' Roth added pointedly: ''The vice president has not endorsed the Teamster position on the border-crossing issue.''
Gore, meanwhile, plans to be in Los Angeles this week, ready to appear at the AFL-CIO convention and accept an endorsement that he hopes will be a crucial boost to his campaign.
As for Bradley, who also plans to be in the Los Angeles area next week, he said, ''If they endorse me, I'll be there.''
