The director of North Dakota's Democratic Party is resigning to go to work for a national radio talk show.

Vern Thompson said Monday he will leave his job Jan. 1, to become program manager for "The Ed Schultz Show."

Schultz, a politically liberal talk host based in Fargo, has a three-hour afternoon show that is nationally distributed. It began last January.

Thompson said the show is heard on 65 stations, including outlets in Miami, Boston, Minneapolis, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle. It is also part of the talk-radio offerings on XM Satellite Radio, a pay service.

Schultz also has a morning talk show on Fargo's KFGO Radio. Thompson said he will be working for the national broadcast.

Thompson has been the state Democratic director since January 2001. He took the position after he narrowly lost a race for the state Public Service Commission the previous year. Republican Tony Clark defeated Thompson by 1,059 votes out of 268,771 cast.

Thompson also ran unsuccessfully for the PSC in 1998, losing to Republican incumbent Leo Reinbold. Thompson has served one term in the North Dakota House and Senate, and is a former mayor of Minnewaukan.

Thompson announced the change Monday in an e-mail message sent to Democratic activists.

"I don't view myself as leaving the party, but expanding its reach from coast to coast," he said. "I see this next step as an exciting new role, to help Democrats all across the country."