AUSTIN (November 12, 2009)—Gov. Rick Perry's campaign for an unprecedented third term has turned into a series of missteps lately.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that 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’s spokesman Mark Miner says Hutchison had disappointing months in the spring and summer when she didn't offer "one new policy initiative."

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

Perry hasn’t lost an election since he first ran for the Legislature in 1984.

Bill Miller, a consultant who works for neither candidate, but whose company's political arm has contributed to Perry, 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 says 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 Waco-based 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.