Alan Greenblatt is a GOVERNING correspondent.
E-mail: mailbox@governing.comTwitter: @governing
As expected, Kay Bailey Hutchison announced this week that she'll resign her U.S. Senate seat in order to challenge Texas Gov. Rick Perry in next year's GOP primary. The campaign will get ugly -- I mean, it already has.
Hutchison's Web site contains hidden phrases that are meant to entice people who type various terms into search engines. One of them, according to the Austin American-Statesman, is "rick perry gay."
Hutchison's people tell the paper that they will remove that term -- but not the 2,200 other hidden phrases. Apparently these are going to be generated on a continuing basis with new ones added to reflect the latest hot search terms.
The expert, Kate Morris, said the site could be subject to getting banned by the Google search engine because of the hidden phrases, which are looked down upon because sometimes phrase combinations can cause engines to mistakenly rate a site as more relevant (or useful) than it is.
GOVERNING Politics is the place for news and analysis on campaigns and elections. If there's a ballot measure in California, a legislative election in Alabama, a mayoral election in Anchorage or a governor's race in Rhode Island, GOVERNING Politics probably is writing about it. We love everything about state and local politics, from polls and campaign ads to policy debates and demographic trends.
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