SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) – Republican presidential hopeful former Mayor Giuliani met with firefighters and police officers in this early voting state Wednesday, using the forum to reference the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which earned him national attention.

“The first people that arrive on the scene of the bombing or the anthrax attack … it’s going to be one of your brothers or your sisters or you that gets to do it,” the former New York mayor told a crowd of about 200 emergency workers. “Your ability to do it well will once again determine if we save lives – save America.”

Mr.Giuliani compared firefighters and police to uniformed military personnel and said the federal Department of Homeland Security needs to ensure first responders “have the training and protection you need to defend your country.”

Mr. Giuliani has a tough road ahead in South Carolina, which is to host the first Southern primaries in 2008. His moderate positions on gun control and support for abortion rights do not sit well with the state’s Christian conservatives, who accounted for a third of the 2000 GOP primary vote. Those voters swung heavily to President Bush that year, giving him a 2-1 ratio margin over Senator McCain, Republican of Arizona, who was viewed as soft on abortion.

On Wednesday, Mr. Giuliani reiterated his own position.

“I’d advise my daughter or anyone else not to have an abortion,” Mr. Giuliani said. “I’d like to see it ended, but ultimately I believe that a woman has the right to choose.

“I believe that you’ve got to run based on who you are, what you really are and then people actually get a right to disagree with you,” he said. “And I find if you do it that way, even people who disagree with you sometimes respect you.”

Mr. Giuliani also said he’s not concerned about a recent poll that showed rising numbers for Democratic opponents.

“We’re a tremendous amount of time away from an election,” he said. “We haven’t even gotten to a primary yet. The best thing we can do now is organize.”