ALBANY – A leading Republican told The New York Sun last night that Governor Pataki is actively courting a mystery candidate whose name has not yet publicly surfaced in the race for governor next year.

Speculation that a wealthy candidate from the financial industry would emerge to challenge the likely Democratic nominee, the state’s attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, heated up in recent weeks, but then cooled down after a former governor of Massachusetts, William Weld, emerged as a candidate for the GOP nomination.

The chief executive officer of Time Warner, Incorporated, Richard Parsons, was also mentioned as a possible candidate. Mr. Parsons met one of the qualities that the chairman of the Republican State Committee, Stephen Minarik, has indicated would be an important factor: personal wealth.

But a spokesman for Mr. Parsons, who worked as a lawyer for Governor Rockefeller before moving into business, quashed speculation about a run last week. The possibility of a run by Mr. Parsons was first reported in the Web log of the New York Observer.

The majority leader of the state Senate, Joseph Bruno, Republican of Rensselaer, fueled additional speculation about an unknown candidate’s entering the race when he told reporters last week that someone without a political background might yet surface.

A well-placed Republican, who requested anonymity because of the apparently sensitive nature of the discussions, confirmed last night that Mr. Pataki is courting someone other than Mr. Weld for the race and said the governor is “about 40% there.”