The failure of New York Republicans yesterday to reach a consensus on who should run for governor in 2006 is convincing many county chairmen that the Grand Old Party is going to require a primary election in September to end the standoff among John Faso, Thomas Golisano, and William Weld.

While the party was deadlocked over who should run for governor, it reached a consensus on who should not run for Senate, signaling to Jeanine Pirro that she should terminate her flailing bid for a mandate to challenge Senator Clinton. Party leaders recommended that Mrs. Pirro, the Westchester district attorney whose campaign has been marred by gaffes, run for attorney general.

The closed-door gathering of Republican county chairman provided nothing so much as more evidence of discord in the party. There was sharp opposition to the plan by the state chairman, Stephen Minarik, to anoint a candidate for governor before the New Year, with key chairmen boycotting a straw poll that was supposed to result in an endorsement.

It was the county party leaders who attempted to push aside Mrs. Pirro in the face of strong endorsements by Mr. Minarik and Governor Pataki.

Mrs. Pirro, who trails in the polls, said in a statement that she is not bowing out of the Senate race and that she saw in the county chairmen’s recommendation a show of confidence “in my abilities as a statewide candidate.” In recent days, Mrs. Pirro has waffled on her decision on whether to stay in the race, and county chairmen interviewed by The New York Sun said they did not know what she intends to do.

One, Robert Smith of Onondaga County, said the vote over Ms. Pirro’s future was a close one. “I don’t think we need to pile on Jeanne Pirro’s decision,” Mr. Smith said. “She’s gone through enough in the last two or three weeks.”

Ed Cox, President Nixon’s son-in-law who dropped out of the race after Mrs. Pirro was endorsed by Mr. Pataki, refused to comment on whether he would re-enter the race, apparently unwilling to commit either way before Mrs. Pirro makes a final decision.

In a straw poll of candidates, Mr. Weld, who is backed by Mr. Minarik, received less than half of the weighted vote, as county party leaders either abstained from voting or did not show up for the meeting. Mr. Weld, a fiscal conservative and social liberal who was governor of Massachusetts in the 1990s before entering the private sector, won support from 23 counties, or about 43% of a vote weighted to favor counties with more Republican voters.

“That’s not a bad place to be,” Mr. Weld said, speaking to the Sun in a telephone interview.

Were there a primary, he said, it would be between him and Mr. Golisano, the billionaire businessman from Rochester who is mulling a fourth run for governor after losing three in consecutive races on the Independence Party line. “Frankly, that would be very entertaining,” he said of such a contest against Mr. Golisano, who has switched his registration to Republican. “I think he would be a colorful candidate. I would enjoy running against him.”

If Mr. Golisano doesn’t enter the race before the convention in May, he could still enter as a petition candidate in June.

Mr. Weld, who in recent weeks has been dogged by his links to Decker College in Kentucky, which has been the target of a student loan fraud investigation by the state, said he’s a better politician since his days as governor of Massachusetts. “I have never been so psyched for a political race in my life as I am for this one,” said Mr. Weld, who, in his last campaign, lost to John Kerry for U.S. Senate in 1996. Mr. Weld, who has written novels depicting the shady side of politics, said he has developed a clearer understanding of how being governor can “have a positive influence on people’s lives.”

Mr. Faso, a former state assemblyman from upstate Columbia County and the 2002 candidate comptroller, also picked up endorsements from 23 counties, but many in upstate areas that are more sparsely populated. His weighted share of the vote was 10.8%.

“It’s clear there is no consensus in the Republican Party,” said Mr. Faso, who served as Assembly minority leader and played a large role in reducing state spending during Mr. Pataki’s first term. “It seems almost inevitable that the electorate is going to choose their nominee in a primary.”

Randy Daniels, a former journalist who served as secretary of state for four years under Mr. Pataki, got 1% of the vote, though a spokesman for his campaign, Robert Ryan, said that Mr. Daniels had urged county chairmen to boycott the vote.

Mr. Weld wouldn’t comment on whether he would consider either Mr. Faso or Mr. Daniels as his lieutenant governor running mate, saying, “I don’t want to be presumptuous.” He did, however, say he had lunch with Mr. Daniels last week at a restaurant in Harlem. Over plates of cheese grits, Messrs. Daniels and Weld talked about how to “expand the reach of the Republican Party,” the former Massachusetts governor said.

The executive director of the Republican State Committee, Ryan Moses, said Mr. Minarik remained largely opposed to a primary but would follow the wishes of the county chairmen. “The chairman has said the primaries can be divisive and deplete resources, but this is America. While we don’t necessarily want a primary, we won’t stop it,” he said.

Fourteen chairmen did not vote, including those from key counties, including Westchester, Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens. The chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Committee, Harry Withers, said in an interview that he strongly opposed Mr. Minarik’s efforts to push ahead a gubernatorial endorsement.

“I don’t see what could be achieved,” he said, adding that his county executive committee has not yet had the opportunity to interview the candidates.

The summit was in some respects an experiment for the state party. Veteran county chairmen said they couldn’t recall the last time they were all called into the same room to endorse a candidate.

Press was barred from entering yesterday’s Republican conclave, which was held in the sunlit first-floor banquet room of the Albany Marriott. The sergeant-at-arms of the committee guarded the only entrance to the room. Chairmen faced each other as they sat in cushioned chairs behind banquet tables that were arranged in a square formation. They were served platters of potato salad, tomato Florentine soup, cold cuts, and tuna salad. It could not be said that it was a smoke-filled room, however, as use of the divine herb – as tobacco is traditionally called – was forbidden during the meeting, which endured three hours.