AIKEN - Undecided voters stood on chairs and bumped elbows just to hear Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Monday.

Although his visit to Aiken was delayed by a couple of hours, the 200 to 250 residents who came to Papa Russ's Barbecue for his campaign stop wanted to see for themselves if he would get past his television persona and hit on real issues.

"I think we may have decided on a candidate, but we wanted to experience him personally," Mark Thompson, of Aiken, said of his family's wait for the visit.

Mr. Thompson acknowledged that he needs a South Carolina win in the state's Republican presidential primary Saturday but was unapologetic about his campaign, telling voters that if he's too laid back for their tastes there are plenty of other candidates to choose from.

While some voters were looking for the right answers from Mr. Thompson, diehard supporters drove to Aiken in an effort to sway the undecided.

"I'm not from South Carolina, but I'll be contacting people in South Carolina because the alternative is unacceptable and I'll have to pay for it," said Dianne Thomas, of Charlotte, N.C. "He has more depth that's not always shown in a sound bite."

The former U.S. senator from Tennessee is on a tour bus campaign in South Carolina this week.