MTA boss Joe Lhota acknowledges for the first time he’s seriously weighing whether to run for mayor

He added that he’s enlisting his wife — a Republican fundraising powerhouse — to explore whether a campaign would be viable.

“We’ve discussed the possibility. But not about what the impact is going to be on the family, but how there could be a way to win,” Lhota, a former deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, told the Daily News.

Lhota’s comments about his deliberations came after the News spoke to Republican insiders who revealed that his wife, Tamra, was crunching the numbers to see if a campaign makes sense.

“What really flamed this thing up inside the Giuliani world was that his wife was reaching out to people, saying, ‘Let’s put together a plan,'” one GOP source said.

Told about the comments, Lhota on Thursday night confirmed his wife’s involvement as a sounding board — but insisted she’s not reaching out to anyone else.

The clamor for a Lhota candidacy has grown ever since superstorm Sandy, when the transit chief quickly got the subway system up and running after the flooding.

Some business titans have been vocal in urging Lhota to run — fearing the Democratic candidates are not committed to maintaining improvements achieved in the city under Giuliani and Mayor Bloomberg.

The buzz had grown so great that Lhota was asked about it Thursday in Washington, after testifying before Congress about how Sandy swamped the subways.

“I have not thought about (running) at all,” Lhota said — but he did not shoot down the idea of a candidacy.

“I’ve been reading the papers as well as you have, and I’m quite surprised at what’s there, and I think the time will come when I make a decision.”

But Thursday night, in an interview with the News, he said it was time to set the record straight.

“I wish everybody who knows me would stop talking to the press about the possibility of me being a candidate for mayor,” he said. “The amount of talk is inappropriate and needs to stop.”

Lhota added, “I will be making my decision probably by the end of the month.”

He then handed the phone to his wife, who said her husband is “in the process of thinking this through.”

Asked if she would help in his campaign if he does run, she replied, “Anything that talks about the suggestion of what it would look like … is just completely premature. I don’t have a preference as to whether he runs or not.”

Giuliani told The News on Thursday that he spoke to Joe and Tamra Lhota at an awards dinner last week about a possible candidacy.

“I know them forever and ever. So I wanted them to both know how difficult this is,” he said. “They understood it.”