Dan Severson’s Site Goes Down Week Before Election

ST. PAUL (AP) - Republican Secretary of State hopeful Dan Severson is suggesting his website was hacked for political reasons.

Severson's campaign website crashed earlier this week. At news conference in St. Paul Friday, he said an early investigation shows it was breached by outsiders but they haven't identified who did it.

Severson says he has no evidence that any of his rivals or their supporters are responsible for the hack, but says it's suspicious his website went down a week before the election.

The former state lawmaker is making his second bid for secretary of state after losing in 2010. He faces Democrat Steve Simon and the Independence Party's Bob Helland.