When it comes to endorsing a candidate for U.S. president in 2004, unions and their members are all over the map.

One thing is clear: Organized labor will not, under any present circumstances, back the current occupant of the White House, Republican George W. Bush. Bush's list of anti-worker actions is so long, his economic record is so bad and his dislike of unions is so pervasive that he cannot win their endorsement.

But the endorsements for the Democratic candidates have been slow to trickle in, reflecting the large, nine-person field of hopefuls, and the fact that none of whom have yet taken a consistent, commanding lead in the polls. But the lack of endorsements also reflects a tremendous amount of indecision by voters, who, polling indicates, still haven't come close to making up their mind about who should run the country.

Less than a year before the presidential election, but less than two months before the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses and Jan. 27 New Hampshire primary, here's a summary of where some unions stand when it comes to picking the next Democratic candidate for president:

Former Democratic Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has the initial lead in union endorsements, most recently getting the nod from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades after internal polling made Dean the overwhelming choice. "The IUPAT was the first international union to make an endorsement for president, and we did it because you, the members, asked us to," said IUPAT President James Williams said in a message to his members.

Williams credited Dean with doing the best job among the candidates of campaigning directly to IUPAT members.

In terms of union membership, Dean's biggest coup to date was getting the endorsement earlier this month of two of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union (1.6 million members) and the American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees (1.4 million members).

Also at the top of the list for union endorsements is Missouri U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri), who entered the race with the strongest ties to organized labor. The son of a Teamster, he has been endorsed by 20 international unions with more than five million members, including a coveted nod from the Teamsters (1.4 million members). The Boilermakers International Union has also endorsed Gephardt. But losing the SEIU and AFSCME this month was a setback to his campaign.

"I've got huge unions for me, I've got little unions," Gephardt said. "It's not just the leadership, it's the rank-and-file worker that's excited about my campaign."

Actually, except for the hard-core political watchers and pundits, the vast majority of Americans are not yet excited about the presidential race, and that includes a lot of union members.

Without a strong mandate for any candidate, the umbrella group for organized labor, the AFL-CIO, has opted to sit out the primary, and won't endorse any candidate until the political picture becomes clearer. The same is true with the AFL-CIO Building Trades Department as well as the UAW, who have also not issued an endorsement on behalf of their affiliates.

Much of the reason has to do with conserving money and volunteer effort until the general election. The AFL-CIO has about $35 million budgeted in the 2004 election cycle, which is $7 million less than was spent in 2000. "Our strength is not really our financial resources," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney "Our strength is our membership and the people power."

"People power" had better come into play for Democrats - because the money disparity between Democrats and Republicans is expected to be huge in 2004. The leading Democratic moneymaker, Dean, expects to take in about $18 million in contributions by the end of this year. By contrast, without any primary opposition, President Bush's campaign has already taken in nearly $100 million, and he's expected to reach his goal of about $170 million - and possibly as much as $200 million - in the next 12 months.

Bush's campaign, said the New York Times, is raising money "at a rate never before seen in presidential politics."

In this election cycle, the goal of the AFL-CIO is to increase union voter registration by at least 10 percent, and to raise union voter turnout even more. In the 2000 and 2002 cycles, unionists and their allies made up just over 25 percent of the electorate, even though unions represent only 13 percent of workers.

The field of Democratic contenders includes Dean, Gephardt, U.S. Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Sens. John Edwards (D-N.C.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.), the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York, and retired General Wesley Clark of Arkansas.

For the AFL-CIO, it won't matter too much which presidential hopeful gets the nod. "They all cleared the bar," Sweeney said after the AFL-CIO candidates' forum in Chicago in August, although Clark hadn't declared his candidacy at the time.