US poll rancour intensifies

The Bush campaign is gunning for the opposition

As the race for the White House heads for another battle in court, the exchanges between the parties are getting ever more vitriolic.

In the latest attack, the Bush campaign has made serious allegations against the manual recounts under way in Florida, describing them as fundamentally flawed.

The hand counting of the ballots that is ongoing is not only fundamentally flawed, it is becoming completely untrustworthy

Montana governor Marc Racicot

It also accuses the Gore campaign of targeted efforts to discount the absentee ballots of American military personnel serving overseas.

The charges were made by senior Bush supporter Marc Racicot, the Republican governor of Montana.

He said there was strong evidence that ballots had been tampered with and Bush votes counted for Gore.

He said there were different standards in different places compounded by the use of elderly and exhausted vote counters.

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

Gore spokesman Chris Lehane

"We now have clear and convincing evidence, in fact in my judgement it's beyond that, that in Palm Beach county and Broward county the hand counting of the ballots that is ongoing is not only fundamentally flawed, it is becoming completely untrustworthy," he said.

Rebutting the allegations, Gore spokesman Chris Lehane accused the Bush camp of injecting "raw, crass partisan politics into a situation that ought to be guided by the laws of our land".

While Republicans charged Democrats with constructing a flawed recount process, Democrats said Republicans were forcing interminable delays.

The laborious count goes on despite court action

"We will all be here until Christmas if this continues," said Charles Burton, a member of the Palm Beach County canvassing board deep into the hand recount of 462,350 ballots.

The two sides will clash again on Monday when the Supreme Court will sit to decide whether the manual recounts in three key Florida counties will be included in the final tally. The result will play the decisive role in electing the next US president.

Our correspondent Rob Watson says the Bush campaign is clearly embarking on an all-out effort to discredit the hand counts in Florida ahead of the hearing.

But he questions whether it really has the evidence to back up its claims and if so whether it is prepared to take yet another election dispute before the courts.