COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Al Gore urged massive new investments in technology education on Tuesday, focusing anew on an issue he had emphasized earlier in his campaign.

Gore went to Resource Marketing Inc., a Web site development company, to make his pitch to move the nation into "the new economy" based heavily on information technology.

"We need new job training and education investments comparable to the GI Bill," a huge program that helped military veterans pay for college.

"You are right at the cutting edge," Gore told workers at the company.

The Democratic vice president often casts himself as an advocate of emerging technologies, but he was stung by criticism of his claims concerning creation of the Internet and has been relatively quiet on the issue.

As he led up to announcing details of his budget plan, he returned to the topic with a vengeance. He said the focus on computers should make sure that low-income residents are brought along.

"I'd like to see storefront computing centers in neighborhoods where computers are not readily available," Gore said. He pointed to Columbus as an example of a city where technology holds sway.

"When you have all those pieces in place the momentum kind of builds on itself," Gore said.

The vice president is looking to spend the week burying voters in tons of budget projections and fiscal arguments, betting that the electorate is now tuned in enough to absorb such detail as he spells out his budget.

"It's finally starting to focus on specifics, and I love that," Gore said Monday. "They want to hear specifics, they don't want to hear personal attacks, they don't want to hear inside baseball and political strategy. They want to know how it affects them."

Gore plans to offer a new wave of budget details Wednesday. In the meantime, his senior economic aides were laying out a detailed critique of Republican George W. Bush's proposals, which they claimed would lead to huge budget deficits.

In their analysis, Gore aides assign numbers to various Bush proposals and the latest projections of the nation's budget surplus to claim the Texas governor's approach would create a "trillion-dollar (deficit) problem" over 10 years.

The Congressional Budget Office is estimating the nation's non-Social Security budget surplus at $2.17 trillion over the next 10 years if spending for most federal programs grows at the rate of inflation.

The Gore campaign said the tax cut plan offered by Bush would cost $1.321 trillion over that stretch, and another $249 billion in interest earnings would be lost, setting the final tab at $1.569 trillion.

In addition, Bush has offered a $132 billion health package, $45 billion in new defense spending, $8 billion in new farm programs and $7 billion for housing assistance. For his part, Gore's proposals have included $500 billion in targeted tax cuts over 10 years, plus large increases in health care and education spending.

While few details have been released, Bush also wants to end the so-called marriage tax penalty, as well as shore up the Social Security and Medicare systems, both of which will need big cash infusions when the Baby Boom generation begins to retire.

Bush aides challenged the Gore campaign's assumptions and conclusions.

"Governor Bush has outlined a very specific and balanced budget," spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "Why should people be expected to believe his (Gore's) math calculations of Governor Bush's budget proposals."

Bartlett said similar reviews of Gore's budget plans shows he spends the surplus as well. "We welcome the debate."

The analysis was offered at an awkward time for Bush, because he's on the verge of announcing details of a plan to provide prescription drugs for seniors. That's a very expensive proposal, however it's structured. Gore, for instance, has unveiled a plan spending $253 billion over 10 years. Bush has said he will focus on a more modest plan to get prescription drugs for low-income seniors.

"The prescription drug program he will offer will fit within a balanced budget," said Bartlett. "The credibility gap in this campaign is with Al Gore."

Gore has said he would allow a relatively quick retirement of the $5.6 trillion national debt.

Under the plan he'll announce Wednesday, the national debt would be lowered to $500 billion by 2010, and retired completely by 2012.