Ajax call not working in IE 8

Ajax call not working in IE 8

This call: 

       $("#ocvfitems").get('getocvflistshort.php?ocvf=' + $("#ocvflvl").val());   

is working fine in Firefox but not in IE8.  What am I doing wrong?  Also tried using .load - same result - nothhing in IE.

#ocvfitems is a div.  the target php file is local and in the same folder as the website.  The ocvflvl is a string that the target uses to determing the query necessary to get the requested data.

Thanks,
Bill