Why is textarea filled with mysterious white spaces?

I have a simple [text area][1] in a form like this: <textarea style="width:350px; height:80px;" cols="42" rows="5" name="sitelink"> <?php if($siteLink_val) echo $siteLink_val;?> </textarea> I keep getting extra white space in this `textarea`. When I tab into it my cursor is like in the middle of the `textarea` and not in the beginning? What is the explanation? [1]: http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/tag_textarea.asp