KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 4 — President Bush opened up a tough new campaign today to try to persuade the nation that his economic policies are working and to counter intensifying Democratic criticism that he has provided tax cuts for the rich while millions of working Americans have lost jobs.

At a time when the White House is worried about the effect of the uncertain economy on the president's re-election campaign, Mr. Bush went to a state he urgently wants to win in 2004 for his speech on the economy.

He offered what the White House billed as a six-point economic recovery plan: affordable health care, a national energy policy, opening overseas markets to American products, a limit on the awards paid to medical malpractice victims, a simplification of regulations on small business and an appeal to Congress to make his tax cuts permanent.

While this six-point plan was a restatement of ideas the president has pushed for months, it was the first time he had pulled the policies together in such detail under the central theme of economic recovery.