USTIN, Texas - Sharpening their attack on the Florida vote recount in anticipation of tomorrow's critical court hearing, advisers to George W. Bush accused Democrats yesterday of distorting the manual recount process to their advantage, all but accusing the Gore campaign of perpetrating a fraud to win the election.
Saying there was something ''terribly, terribly wrong'' with the way the recounts are being conducted, Governor Mark Racicot of Montana, a close friend of Bush's, leveled the most aggressive criticism yet at the Texas governor's opponents. He cited numerous examples of ballot problems as reported by Republican overseers in Florida. In one instance, he said, a ballot was taped together to reflect a vote for Gore rather than for of Bush; in another, someone used a ballot as a fan, he said.
''The hand counting of the ballots that is ongoing is not only fundamentally flawed, it is becoming completely untrustworthy,'' Racicot told reporters at a news conference inside Bush campaign headquarters. ''What is occurring here over the course of time is irreparable damage.''
Officials in Vice President Al Gore's campaign dismissed the attacks as further attempts by the Republican camp to avoid counting all the ballots, which the Democrats believe will turn the election for Gore. After a count of overseas military ballots was completed yesterday, Bush tripled his earlier lead, with an advantage of 930-odd ballots; Gore aides predict that lead that will vanish once the hand counts in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties are complete.
A Gore spokesman, Chris Lehane, said the campaign ''was saddened and disappointed by the fact that the Bush camp has suddenly decided to inject raw, crass, partisan politics into a situation that ought to be guided by the laws of our land.''
At the same time, aides to Gore noted the wide-open arena in which the ballots are being counted, especially the fact that Republican monitors are present in every voting precinct. In some cases, the recounts are being shot by television news crews.
''Given the scrutiny that has been brought to bear, everyone ought to be comfortable with the outcome,'' said another Gore spokesman, Doug Hattaway.
The back-and-forth over the airwaves yesterday set the public relations groundwork for the coming week, when the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments and decide whether to allow the hand count to proceed. The dispute also suggested how each campaign will argue its legal case, indicating just how vigorously the Republicans oppose the continuation of the recount.
Although the Bush campaign argued against hand recounts from the start, its attacks reached new levels yesterday, one day after its lawsuit requesting an injunction against the process was tossed out in federal court. Although the candidate himself lay low, his advisers held a news conference to raise the objections, urging the dozens of reporters camped out in Austin to question the validity of the Florida recount.
''We now have clear and compelling evidence from eyewitnesses that this manual recount process is fundamentally flawed and it's no longer recounting, but is distorting, reinventing, and miscounting true intentions of voters of Florida,'' said Bush'scommunications director, Karen Hughes.
Avoiding an unusually cold day of wind and rain - as well as legions of protesters who formed a human chain around his home - Bush spent most of yesterday inside the Texas governor's mansion. His twin 18-year-old daughters were on their way home from college, and are expected to stay through next week.
For the first time since election night, Bush's vice presidential running mate, Dick Cheney, returned to see his family in McLean, Va., a suburb of Washington. Cheney was spotted in a gourmet grocery store there late yesterday, ordering expensive cuts of steak.
