MANNING, S.C. – In his first campaign appearance, South Carolina’s surprising U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene avoided any major gaffes Sunday as he hit his three major themes of jobs, education and justice.

The speech started off with a joke and ended with Greene timidly waving, a shy smile spreading across his face as he got a standing ovation before a friendly audience in his hometown of Manning.

Greene’s 6 1/2 -minute speech at the local NAAP’s monthly meeting was mostly serious. Left out was any mention of his suggestion this month that creating a line of action figures modeled after him could give South Carolinians jobs. In their place came platitudes familiar to anyone who has heard a stump speech.

“Let’s get South Carolina and America back to work and let’s move South Carolina forward,” said Greene in one of about a dozen lines that got applause from the several hundred people crammed into a sweltering junior high gymnasium.

The speech by the 32-year-old unemployed military veteran had few of the long pauses that have marked his unprepared conversations with reporters.

He opened by joking that he was not only the best candidate for Senate, but also the best choice for one of next year’s NAACP Image Awards. After that, he turned serious. Greene rattled off national job loss statistics, and he said the state should put more people to work adding more lanes to hurricane evacuation routes.

Greene called for giving first-time offenders a chance to do community service and pay a fine to have their records wiped clean, which called to mind his own legal troubles.

Greene is facing a felony charge of showing obscene Internet photos to a University of South Carolina student.

Greene took no questions from the audience and hustled past a group of reporters on his way out of the building without stopping to talk.

Most of the crowd saw Greene’s awkward media interviews in the days after his stunning primary win June 8 over a former judge and state lawmaker who had the full backing of the Democratic party.

They’d followed as he withstood a challenge to the vote and calls for him to step aside because of the pending charge that came to light only after the win.

Pamela Clavon Brunson bristled at the scorn heaped on Greene for his halting answers and quirky ideas.

“The polished ones just know how to lie better,” said Brunson, 46, a retired police officer living in Manning.

Jerry Johnson said Greene looked much better giving his speech than he has in interviews.

“I wasn’t blown away, but he didn’t do bad,” Johnson said. “Considering I didn’t know anything about him coming in, that’s not so bad.”

Greene faces Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Green Party candidate Tom Clements in November.

DeMint has more than $3.5 million to spend, while Greene told a reporter last week he has raised about $1,000.