Perry encounters string of setbacks

AUSTIN (AP) -  What should be Gov. Rick Perry's time to shine and shore up support for an unprecedented third term has turned lately into a series of missteps.

The Associated Press reports the situation seems to have given at least a temporary boost to GOP challenger U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose aides note every Perry setback.

Perry's campaign denies he's lost ground. Perry spokesman Mark Miner says Hutchison had disappointing months in the spring and summer when she didn't offer "one new policy initiative."

Hutchison campaign manager Terry Sullivan says Perry is, quote: "an unbelievably arrogant person" who's being held accountable.

Perry has never lost an election since he first ran for the Legislature in 1984.

Bill Miller is a consultant who works for neither candidate but whose company's political arm has contributed to Perry.

Miller calls Perry's recent problems a "plague of bad incidents" but said they don't signal a breakdown in the governor's usually disciplined campaign.

• Last month, Hutchison staffers videotaped the governor appearing to question whether Texas is in a recession.
• Perry said the quip, designed to get a laugh from a crowd of suburban Houston business leaders, was taken out of context when the Hutchison camp circulated it on YouTube.
• Two weeks ago, his big campaign Web announcement fell prey to a technology meltdown, and many supporters couldn't tune in to watch.
• The Perry campaign says it was the work of a politically motivated computer hacker and the FBI is investigating.
• The Texas Farm Bureau last week toured the state with Hutchison endorsing her and chiding Perry, the former agriculture commissioner, for his failed Trans-Texas Corridor toll road project.