The Conservative Party has a message for Rudy Giuliani: If it be now, ‘tis not to come.

“How long are we going to wait for Hamlet to make a decision?” said Thomas Cook, the Monroe County Conservative chairman. “The impression is that Rudy is not going to run.”

Emboldened by their success in forcing a moderate Republican, Dede Scozzafava, out of the upstate congressional race earlier this month, and anxious to wield their newfound clout, Conservative Party leaders are preparing to take a more active role in the Republican nominating process for next year’s statewide elections. The first hint of that strategy seemed to come on Tuesday, when Cook endorsed Rick Lazio for governor, and became the first Conservative chairman to weigh in on the 2010 elections.

While Cook’s endorsement may not mean much beyond the boundaries of his home county, Conservative Party officials say the decision heralds a slew of impending endorsements from other Conservative chairman across the state. Those chairmen, party officials say, are eager to flex their muscle after stirring a conservative uprising in the North Country, and hope to generate enough momentum to prod the hemming-and-hawing Giuliani into either declaring his candidacy or leaving the race.

“This could certainly act as a signal,” said Mike Long, the state Conservative chairman. “This could have a clear trickle effect.”

Assembly Member Bill Reilich, the chairman of the Monroe Republican Party, who has been outspoken in his support of Giuliani, said the state GOP would have to split with Conservative Party leaders if Giuliani decides to run. This would potentially set up a schism that would pit two hardcore factions of the New York Republican Party—Rudy boosters and conservative diehards—against one another.

“What we need to do—we meaning the Republican Party—is we need to identify the best candidate that gives us the best shot at being successful in that election,” Reilich said. “If we lose X amount of votes because we don’t have the Conservative line, but we gain X amount more because it’s Rudy Giuliani, as opposed to any other candidate, at the end of the day, more than anything else, it’s votes that count.”

John McLaughlin, one of the central architects of Doug Hoffman’s insurgent campaign and a longtime Conservative strategist, said the early movement by Conservative chairmen also indicates that the party is interested in nominating a Republican for governor rather than engineering a deal to help attorney general and all-but-declared gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, as some have speculated.

“To me, this is a signal that they’re getting ready to run a serious race for governor,” McLaughlin said. “If I’m a Republican candidate for statewide office, I really would not relish the idea of a Republican primary and not having the Conservative line.”

Lazio’s campaign has intensively courted Conservative leaders for months, in the hope of winning the Conservative endorsement early on and generating enough momentum to undercut a potential bid by Giuliani. Lazio has crisscrossed the state to speak at Conservative county dinners, and has maintained regular contact with Long.

“Obviously, the Conservative Party oftentimes plays a very influential role, and we value their support,” said Lazio spokesman Barney Keller. “Rick believes it’s better for the Republican Party and the Conservative Party to be united behind one candidate, and that’s why he’s seeking out Conservative Party support.”

Republican operatives and aides to Giuliani cautioned that Cook’s early endorsement would have no impact on Giuliani’s decision, and suggested that Conservative Party leaders were simply trying to use the fallout from the upstate congressional race to aggrandize their role in the Republican nominating process.

“They’re trying to use what’s happened in the past few weeks to their advantage,” said one political consultant with ties to Giuliani. “They’re trying to fight to stay relevant in the process.”