NewsMax.com reported earlier that party elite were wooing Weld, 59, to run for governor.

And now Weld has told the New York Times he may run, and is so confident that he said he stood a good chance of beating Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, who had a sizable lead over Pataki in recent polls.

"Eliot’s making his name the same way I made mine, and he would be tough to beat," the former federal prosecutor told the Times.

"But I think I could beat him."

Weld stressed that he won’t definitively announce his intentions until Pataki reveals his plans, which he is expected to do by June.

Weld also will not run against former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "I'm very close to both those guys," said Weld.

And what if Pataki or Giuliani do run? Would Weld want to be a U.S. senator from New York? He told The Associated Press that he was not considering running against the former first lady, noting that they were old friends, having worked together as young lawyers on the Watergate hearings in 1973-74.

Weld, a fiscal conservative who is also socially liberal on issues like abortion, may be the type of GOP candidate considered electable in the liberal Empire State.

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2006 Elections