AIKEN - A crowd of 1,400 surged to their feet at South Aiken High School on Saturday, cheering and clapping the Democratic senator from Illinois who many said brought a good message.

"I thought he brought up some good issues, especially (about) the war," Leo Brooker, of Aiken, said of presidential candidate Barack Obama. "The citizens of the U.S. are concerned about when troops will be heading home."

The senator promised the Aiken crowd that if elected, he would begin bringing troops home immediately, two brigades each month.

He said some troops should remain to guard the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, and a small contingency should focus on specific areas of terrorist activity.

Mr. Brooker said he liked Mr. Obama's plan to strategically withdraw the military. He said he also was glad to hear about the senator's plans for getting more affordable health insurance for Americans and increasing grants for college students.

By the end of Mr. Obama's 1-hour meeting inside the school's gymnasium, he had garnered the support of at least one Republican in the audience.

"He's prepared. He's got a plan," said Cherie Sheffield, of Warrenville, S.C., who said she attended the town hall meeting to try to decide which candidate to vote for. "I'm a Republican, but I will vote for him."

Barbara Holloway, of Aiken County, said she thought the senator shared a wealth of information that everyone needed to hear.

"I got a good understanding of issues that I really didn't understand before," she said. "I feel like I know where he stands."

Gwendolyn Hines, of Aiken, also liked what the senator had to say, saying he was "point-blank" in his answers.

After shucking his coat and rolling up his sleeves, Mr. Obama answered questions from the crowd concerning the outsourcing of jobs to other countries, housing, education and health insurance, but the one issue the senator kept coming back to was the war in Iraq.

It was five years ago next week that Mr. Obama spoke against going to war at a time when he said the "drumbeat of war was going strong."

Reach Michelle Guffey at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or michelle.guffey@augustachronicle.com