As Vice President Cheney arrives in the city today to address the New York Republican State Committee at its annual dinner, he will find a party in worse shape than one of his hunting buddies. The state’s Republican Party, once a national powerhouse that yielded presidential nominees such as Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey, is struggling through a seemingly continuous stretch of setbacks, embarrassments, and defeats, leaving Republican elected officials an endangered species throughout the state and party stalwarts divided over how to spur a recovery.

“My feeling is that the New York Republican Party is at the lowest ebb in 70 years,” a Reagan administration official who was a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in New York in 2006, Kathleen Troia McFarland, said. “Nibbling around the edges won’t be enough; it needs a major overhaul with new leaders.”

In 2006, Democrats won every statewide position, ending 12 years of Republican control of the governor’s office. In the state Senate, the Republicans hold a razor-thin majority of 32 to 30, raising the possibility of a Democratic takeover this year after 43 years of Republican control. A Siena poll released this month found that 48% of New York state voters would prefer the Democrats in control the Senate, versus 39% who favored the Republicans.

Two Republican members of Congress, John Sweeney and Susan Kelly, were defeated in 2006. Last year, Mr. Sweeney pleaded guilty after being arrested driving drunk with a 24-year old woman sitting on his lap. Recently, Rep. Vito Fossella was arrested on drunk driving charges as well and, after admitting that he had fathered a child out of wedlock, announced he would not seek re-election. With Mr. Fossella’s seat now at risk of a Democratic takeover and two more veteran Republicans, Reps. Thomas Reynolds and James Walsh, retiring and leaving open seats to defend, the Republican congressional delegation in Washington, now at six members out of 29 seats, could shrink even further in 2008.

Once a star in the state Republican party, Mayor Giuliani made a disappointing showing in the presidential race. Another former leader, Senator D’Amato, endorsed a Democrat for governor, Eliot Spitzer, who left office in disgrace. Another Republican, Mayor Bloomberg, who welcomed the 2004 Republican National Convention to Madison Square Garden, has since left the Republican Party and declared himself an independent.

While personal scandals have affected individual races, prominent Republicans interviewed yesterday attributed their difficulties to a variety of broader factors, including the unpopularity of President Bush in New York, a leadership vacuum in the state party, and a weak field of young prospective candidates.

“Right now we’re in tough shape,” a Republican congressman who represents Long Island, Peter King, said yesterday in an interview. “During the last decade we didn’t build up a farm system and we didn’t strengthen organizations and try to keep them alive. I think we just stagnated along the way.”

A former chairman of the New York State Republican Party and the current chair of the Monroe County Republican Party, Stephen Minarik, said that the president’s unpopularity is hurting the party. He suggested that Republicans weather the storm by focusing on county-level efforts, building the foundation for future statewide elections.

“Everything needs to be localized.” Mr. Minarik said. “Republican county organizations need to retool at the grassroots level and go out and find new candidates.”

The current state party chairman, Joseph Mondello, said that the difficulties were a predictable result of Governor Pataki’s departure after guiding the party with his organization and fundraising for over a decade.

“We’re in a rebuilding mode — when you lose the governor, you’re left hung to dry.” Mr. Mondello said. “There was no money and we had to reestablish ourselves.”

Ms. McFarland said the party’s issues went beyond fundraising and organization and required a new message entirely. She suggested that Republicans refocus the party’s agenda to feature ethics issues, such as campaign and lobbying reform, fiscal responsibility, and environmental conservation — a combination she said is modeled after the governing approach of President Theodore Roosevelt, another Republican New Yorker.

With previous party leaders, such as Mr. Pataki, Mr. Giuliani, and Mr. D’Amato no longer in office, popular politicians like Mayor Bloomberg no longer Republican, and no clear heir to the party’s throne, many Republicans are left looking to out-of-state politicians to rebuild the party. Several party members interviewed yesterday said that Senator McCain’s popularity among Republicans might be their best hope of uniting the party behind a common cause.

“We have to use the McCain campaign as an opportunity to rebuild the party at the state level and all the way down,” Mr. King said. “We need to use his candidacy, not just to get him elected, but to bring in volunteers and build up organizations.”

The New York state chairman for the McCain’s campaign and a former candidate for Senate in 2006, Edward Cox, also emphasized the Republican nominee’s potential for the party, saying that his emphasis on fiscal discipline resonated with many New Yorkers.

“John McCain fits this state very well and an active campaign here can be a strong force for the name brand of the Republican Party in New York State,” Mr. Cox said.

If there is any other consolation for the state’s Republicans, it is that the state’s Democrats are also ailing, with Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign lagging in the delegate count and mired in debt, Mr. Spitzer forced from office, and the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, another Democrat, weakened from a scandal involving taxpayer funds earmarked to phony charities.

In addition to Mr. Cheney, special guests at tonight’s party dinner will include Mr. Giuliani. The state Senate majority leader. Joseph Bruno, and assembly Republican leader, James Tedisco, are expected to speak.