GOP Site Hacked

A computer hacker defaced the Republican National Committee Web site in the hours before the election with a 1000-word rant in support of Al Gore.

"It's obviously a dirty trick late in the campaign by the Democrats," RNC spokesman Tom Yu told CBSNews.com.

"We're calling on Al Gore and the Democratic Party to stop this kind of campaigning, and we hope they will join us in denouncing these kind of attacks," said Yu.

It was unclear how many people saw the diatribe before the GOP.org site was taken down Tuesday morning.

The diatribe read in part, "Gore ain't the best of men, but he's a good man, and he's a smart man. He may well be smarter than any man who has ever been president."

Asked whether the Democratic Party was directly behind the computer attack, Yu said, "It's suspicious." He noted the pro-Gore message included a link to the vice president's Web site.

Jenny Backus, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, characterized the notion that her party was somehow involved in hacking the Republican Web site as "unfounded charges."