MANCHESTER -In what he called a "thank-you visit" to his New Hampshire supporters, former U.S. senator and vice-presidential nominee John Edwards urged a crowd of Democrats to reaffirm their commitment to "one of the great moral issues of our time": reducing poverty in America.

Edwards's speech at the state Democratic Party's annual "100 Club"dinner last night was both a rallying cry for his party's future and a return to many of the themes from his own presidential campaign.

Edwards described America as a country divided by poverty, health care and educational opportunities. He said Democrats must fight the criticism that "we don't believe in anything." And he said the country should apply "moral clarity" to tackle its biggest challenges at home and abroad.

"Free nations must always fight tyranny, together,"Edwards told the crowd of state party leaders and activists. "Not just with our muscle but with our moral clarity. And that means never again turning a blind eye to those who suffer, who want to educate their child, or who want to speak out."

The speech was Edwards's first major address since he and presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry lost to President Bush last November. Before joining Kerry on the Democratic ticket last summer, Edwards led his own campaign for the presidential nomination, in which he spent months stumping across New Hampshire.

Later this month, Edwards will become director of the newly-founded Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina. In an interview with the Monitor, Edwards said he hoped that new post would help him call attention to problems facing America's poor. But he stressed that he also wanted to raise larger questions about the Democratic Party's future in the wake of November's presidential and congressional defeats.

"What the country is hungry for in leaders is strength, conviction and a core set of beliefs that are real and grounded in something,"Edwards said. "I don't think we ought to be trying to figure out how to maneuver our way through the political landscape, how to strategize, shift, posture and position on this issue and that issue. That's not what people are driven by, what voters are driven by."

Edwards said he was not criticizing his party's performance in last year's presidential campaign, in which Republicans branded Kerry a "flip-flopper," lacking conviction. But he said Democrats needed to do a better job communicating their beliefs to voters.

"I think the Democratic Party has always had a core set of beliefs and values, but it's important for us going forward to make sure the country knows what we stand for and what we would do on the first day if we were running the country,"he said.

Leading the poverty center will allow him "to ask hard questions about what I feel can work and what's possible," Edwards said.

He listed some of the topics he felt worthy of study: minimum wage reform, expanding tax credits for poor workers, strengthening early childhood education programs and low-income housing reform.

In his speech, Edwards issued sharp criticisms of the president's proposals for reforming Social Security, which he said would risk future benefits and add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit.

In his interview with the Monitor, Edwards said he would not consider running for president again until his wife's health was certain.

Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer near the end of last year's campaign and has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments.

But he said he planned to continue to use the national exposure he acquired through last year's campaign to express his political views.

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