Remember Rick Lazio? The folks at the state Republican Committee hope so. According to people familiar with party strategy, the former U.S. congressman best known for taking on Hillary Clinton in the 2000 race for U.S. Senate has emerged as the leading candidate to take on a crowded field of Democrats in next year’s state attorney general race. With the current attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, leading all comers in the race for governor next year, the race to replace him could be next year’s most exciting.

This would be especially true if Mr. Lazio were to come forward as a candidate. Some have speculated that the district attorney of Westchester County, Jeanine Pirro, is mulling a run to replace Mr. Spitzer. Her frequent appearances across the state in recent months suggest this is more than idle chatter. Yet Ms. Pirro has insisted she is focused on her current work. She has made a very public crusade of passing a law that would commit still-dangerous sex offenders who have served prison terms to permanent confinement.

Ms. Pirro’s efforts are based largely on the painful personal experience of seeing many of the criminals she has put in prison commit similar crimes upon release. She claims in speeches that pedophiles average 100 victims in their lifetimes. While horrifying, the idea might not make for appealing campaign literature. Ms. Pirro will also have a difficult time deflecting campaign questions about her husband, a lobbyist convicted of felony tax evasion in 2000. Ms. Pirro’s recent attempts at distancing herself from her husband have made her seem disloyal rather than victimized. She has an uphill climb.

Into this Republican mix comes Mr. Lazio, a proven vote-getter who spent more than $40 million in a bitter, six-month campaign against Mrs. Clinton. From the day Mr. Lazio lost, his name has been floated for other statewide races. Mr. Lazio’s campaign chairman, Thomas Reynolds, told the New York Times the day after his candidate’s defeat: “I think he’s positioned to be a prospective candidate for attorney general or comptroller or something else.” Mr. Lazio’s name is still being floated five years later, though insiders say the Long Island native is now taking a more active role in fanning the flame.

The Associated Press reported last month that the state Republican chairman, Stephen Minarik, was spotted in New York City having lunch with Mr. Lazio. The presence of the committee’s executive director, Ryan Moses, suggests the meeting was more than casual.

“I have to say that Rick is a good candidate for us,” Mr. Minarik told The New York Sun last week. “He has shown his ability to run well statewide, and he has support remaining in our counties. I’d be happy to have Rick on the ticket if he were interested. I don’t know if that would be A.G.’s race. We haven’t had any discussions about any particular office.” Mr. Lazio’s current work could be an obstacle. Like Mayor Giuliani, the dream candidate for Republicans against Mr. Spitzer next year, Mr. Lazio is said to be making a good sum in the private sector. After working at the Financial Services Forum, a Manhattan-based trade association, Mr. Lazio took a job in October as an executive vice president at JP Morgan Chase, the investment banking firm. “I know he’s making a lot of money right now,” one Republican insider said. “But he keeps in contact with the county chairs. He’s got it in his blood.” The same source said Mr. Lazio is likely to make a decision in the next three to four months. Governor Pataki has given himself a similar timeframe for deciding on whether he will seek a fourth term.

The chairman of the state Conservative Party, Michael Long, gave stronger indications that Mr. Lazio is considering a run soon. He was also forthright about the reason top state Republicans such as Mr. Lazio, who spoke at the Conservative Party convention in Albany this February, have either not emerged as definitive candidates or have been reluctant to step forward. “I think Rick Lazio has an interest in running statewide, and it’s a possibility he would look at the A.G.’s race,” Mr. Long said. “One of the things that’s holding the process up is everybody is not quite sure what the governor’s doing.”

Mr. Long said he has also been forthright in communicating this concern to Mr. Pataki. In a recent meeting with the governor at the state Capitol in Albany, Mr. Long said, he urged Mr. Pataki to make a decision sooner rather than later. “I think he respected my point of view,” Mr. Long said. “That doesn’t mean he has to agree with me.” Mr. Long would not say whether he thinks Mr. Lazio could be a good challenger against Mr. Spitzer himself, but the qualities he enumerated suggest that others, at least, are considering the possibility.

“I think he is a household name, and it would not be the uphill battle it was last time,” Mr. Long said. “I think what happened last time is that Hillary Clinton, unbeknownst to everyone else, had been working the state for 15 months. Before you knew it, she had already locked it up. If he gets in at the right time, I think lots of people have had races and lost and then won.”