I can get the data into the orginal textarea and could validate it there - but the field is hidden. I need to keep the default of not validating hidden fields. I was unable to figure out how to set ignore to all the hidden fields EXCEPT fields with a specific class.

Alternately, I tried to validate the content in the TinyMCE created textarea, but field is buried in an iframe, the id is "tinymce" (and I have more than one on the page). 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.