Topeka ? Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards stumped here Friday, assuring fellow Democrats that they represent the working class, excoriating Republicans and President Bush’s plan to revamp Social Security.

Edwards’ visit came a week after Howard Dean, the newly selected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, spoke in Topeka and headlined a rally in Lawrence.

Like Dean, Edwards told fellow Democrats that the party would prosper if its candidates stressed core values, such as helping the poor and fighting to improve health care.

“There are people in the Democratic Party and there are people on television, you know, who yap a lot, who say that the Democrats don’t know what they believe in,” he said during a news conference.

He added: “There are a lot of Democratic politicians, unfortunately, who are nuancing and changing their positions, trying to figure out the best way to maneuver their way through the political landscape, in order to try to be more appealing to more people. I think that’s dead wrong.”

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, was the keynote speaker Friday night for Kansas Democrats’ annual two-day convention in Topeka.

He said more Americans were struggling financially and falling deeper into debt and said the trend was not an accident.

“It is by design because our Republican leaders value one thing: wealth,” he said in the remarks he prepared. “We see it in everything they do.”

Republicans couldn’t resist pointing out that Edwards was a successful trial attorney. Atty. Gen. Phill Kline and Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger criticized Edwards by reiterating a favorite GOP theme: Frivolous lawsuits drive up health care and malpractice insurance costs.

Former U.S. Sen. and Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards talks with reporters Friday after a news conference in Topeka. Edwards was in Topeka to speak at the Kansas Democratic Party's 100th annual state convention awards banquet.

State GOP Chairman Tim Shallenburger said Edwards was falling back on Democrats’ standard themes.

“I chuckle when they say they’re for the working class, when it’s Barbara Streisand, John Kerry and John Edwards,” Shallenburger said.

Edwards echoed other Democrats’ criticism of Bush’s plan on Social Security as risky. It would permit younger workers to divert part of their incomes to private accounts, lowering their guaranteed benefits.

Bush argues the program faces a crisis. But Edwards said the crisis could be averted by rolling back tax cuts for people earning more than $300,000 a year.

“We’d take care of the problem for at least the next 75 years,” Edwards said during his news conference.