HTML in Input Text output

[face2six]

I had a simple search form in the MX version that worked fine, but needed to upgrade to f8 so I could use some fancy text filters elsewhere in fla. Now my text input's output is surrounded by a bunch of html code. Like if I do a search for "fishing" I get
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="10" COLOR="#FFFFFF" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">fishing</FONT></P>

for the value of my input string........works great in MX
What gives in F8??
here is the action on my search button, the var for input text is named 'searchfor'

on (release, keyPress "<Enter>") {
trace(_root.searchfor);
getURL("/search/node/"+ _root.searchfor, "_self", "POST");
}

[face2six]

I guess in F8 you must give your input an instance name on the stage then reference the value of input string like this

_root.search_box.text

where search_box.text is the instance name of the input field