The head of the State Republican Party is warming to the idea of Rick Lazio as the party’s gubernatorial nominee, now that Erie County Executive Chris Collins has decided against entering the race.

“At the moment, he is the candidate,” Edward Cox, the state party leader, said Wednesday of Lazio, a former congressman from Long Island.

Cox said Collins believed a recent gain of three Republican seats in the County Legislature has made him want to stay in his current job and to “really establish himself.”

The party chairman, who has warm relations with Collins but has not been close to Lazio, said he has met with Lazio in the past week to discuss how the party can help him with fundraising.

“It looks like he’s going to get the majority of the weighted vote of the county chairs,” Cox said, referring to the party’s May nominating convention. “He’s done an awfully good job carrying the message, and I think he’s going to be carrying it in the future.”

Cox said Lazio has been steadily building support within GOP circles around the state.

“He’s done an awfully good job of it,” Cox said of Lazio’s carrying the GOP message. “The base of the party appreciates that. He’s doing very well with that. He has been a great candidate. He will be a great candidate. I think he will be a great governor.”

Might someone else jump into the race for the party’s nomination?

“With Chris Collins deciding that he’s going to go back to Erie County and continue doing the great things he did there over the last two years, at the moment Rick is the candidate,” Cox responded.

That sounded just fine to Lazio, who “looks forward to having Ed Cox’s support and the support of all those unsatisfied with the Albany status quo,” said Barney Keller, Lazio spokesman.

Still circling is Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat who has been flirting with switching parties and running for governor as a Republican.

“He is a true fiscal conservative,” Cox said of Levy, but that added the Long Islander still is exploring his options and has not made any commitments. As for Lazio,

Cox said, “We’re going to be working with him so he can raise the resources that he needs to be effective as a candidate and win the governorship.”

Levy said Wednesday that Republican leaders had asked several weeks ago to meet with him about his political plans. “I am an independent-minded official who governs from the center and is open to having folks from a variety of parties join in my effort to reform the state,” Levy said in a statement.

“If certain leaders decide to go with someone else, I am very respectful of that. “If their frontrunner this year fails to take root — as was the case in 2006 —they still know there is someone out there with the passion, the proven fiscal record and the consistent, detailed plan to overhaul the state’s dysfunctional government,” he added.

Locally, Republican and Conservative Party leaders were not so quick to jump on the Lazio bandwagon. James P. Domagalski, chairman of the Erie County Republican Party and a vocal Collins supporter, said he will not endorse Lazio or anyone else for now.

“If public opinion says we now default to the one person who has declared, that’s premature,” he said, adding he did not preclude the possibility of supporting Lazio at a later date.

Domagalski emphasized, however, that he will not participate in any move to encourage Levy to seek the Republican endorsement.

“I want to be clear,” he said. “I will never be for a Democrat or someone who has a conversion at the altar. That is not an option.”

Domagalski also urged Cox to develop a “process” that will allow the party to investigate the possibility of many potential candidates, adding that he hopes the state committee meeting Feb. 17 in Albany will shed light on the state chair-man’s thinking.

Ralph C. Lorigo, chairman of the Erie County Conservative Party and another enthusiastic Collins supporter, said that at this point he does not envision supporting Lazio.

He said he was especially concerned that Lazio has only about $630,000 on hand for a race that Collins said would cost $35 million to $50 million.

“I like Rick, but his message is unclear,” Lorigo said. “I think [Gov. David A.] Paterson could beat Rick.”

On Dec. 18, Lorigo sent letters to the 62 Conservative Party chairmen, urging them to consider Collins, but he said Wednesday that the Collins camp did not follow up on gathering support in the new year as was planned.