The Gore campaign, seeking to buttress its claim that George W. Bush's tax cut and spending plans are fiscally irresponsible, issued a detailed analysis that suggested the Texas governor would need to either slash government spending or increase the size of the national debt if his proposals were enacted.

The Bush campaign countered with updated budget projections that assert the rapidly expanding economy in recent months has added enough revenue to federal coffers to boost the projected size of the government surplus by 33 percent over the next 10 years--to more than $4 trillion--enough to pay for the Republican's proposals.

Vice President Gore is eager to link Bush to the soaring deficits experienced under President Ronald Reagan and the governor's father. A Gore adviser, briefing reporters on the analysis Monday evening, repeatedly called the Bush campaign's projections "a new rosy scenario," the catch phrase used during the Reagan era to describe faulty economic analysis. Another adviser, speaking after the Bush campaign released its new analysis, dismissed it as "Alice in Wonderland economics."