FARGO (AP) - Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer has agreed to serve as the North Dakota chairman for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who has opened a state headquarters office here.

Cramer, who has been a state utility regulator since August 2003, is a former state Republican chairman and party director. He twice ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House during the 1990s.

He has some policy differences with the former New York mayor, Cramer said Friday.

Cramer opposes abortion, for example, while Giuliani is a longtime supporter of abortion rights.

However, Giuliani has supported adoption initiatives and other programs that help curtail abortions, Cramer said.

He believes Giuliani will be the GOP's best shot for keeping the presidency, especially if Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is the Democratic presidential nominee, Cramer said.

"He's presidential. He's electable. He's savvy. He's proven he can win as a Republican, even in a Democrat area, and we're in a bit of a Democrat pattern right now in America," Cramer said.

North Dakota is among a group of more than 20 states that are holding presidential primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5. North Dakota Republicans and Democrats are both holding presidential preference caucuses that day.