AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A Web site for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison contained hidden phrases including “rick perry gay.”
So Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign is accusing the Hutchison team of being slanderous and of setting a negative and divisive tone.
The two Republicans are running for governor in next year’s GOP primary.
The Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday on the phrases.
Hutchison spokesman Jeff Sadosky said Hutchison’s campaign was not condoning those words and did not know thousands of people would be searching for them. He said they would be removed from the site.
Campaign officials said they bought a tool that generates the phrases to find out the most frequent Web searches using the two gubernatorial candidates’ names.