Help with Select menu validation

Help with Select menu validation

I am using JQuery form and trying to validate that a state was selected.

Here is my form code:

  1. <!-- contact-form START here --><div id="feedback">
              <p class="error wrong_firstName"> Please fill in your first name</p>
              <p class="error wrong_lastName"> Please fill in your last name</p>
              <p class="error wrong_address"> Please fill in your address</p>
              <p class="error wrong_city"> Please fill in your city</p>
              <p class="error wrong_state"> Please select in your state</p>
              <p class="error wrong_zip"> Please fill in your zip</p>
              <p class="error wrong_email"> Please fill in your email</p>
            
            </div>
            <form action="sendemail.php" id="contact_us" method="post">
            <fieldset title="listSelect" id="listSelect"><label for="publicList">I want to join the Public list</label><input type="checkbox" name="checkbox" id="publicList" value="publicList"  />
    <label for="Artist List">I want to join the Artist list</label><input type="checkbox" name="checkbox" id="artistList" value="artistList"  /></fieldset><br />
              <label for="firstName">First Name:</label><input name="firstName" type="text" id="firstName" size="20" />
              <label for="lastName">Last Name:</label><input name="lastName" type="text" id="lastName" size="24" /> <br />
              <label for="address">Address:</label> <input name="address" type="text" id="address" size="60" /><br />
              <label for="city">City:</label> <input name="city" type="text" id="city" size="15" />
             




















  3. <select name="state" id="state">
                  <option value="Alabama - AL">AL</option>
                  <option value="Alaska - AK">AK</option>
                  <option value="Arizona - AZ">AZ</option>
                  <option value="Arkansas - AR">AR</option>
                  <option value="0" selected="selected">State</option>
              </select>








  5.           <label for="zip">Zip</label><input name="zip" type="text" id="zip" size="15" maxlength="5" /><br />
              <label for="email">Email</label> <input name="email" type="text" id="email" size="24" /><br />
             
              <p>Send me info about the following American Art Marketing festivals:</p>
             <fieldset title="showSelect" id="showSelect">
             <input name="berkshires" type="checkbox" id="berkshires" value="Berkshires Arts Festival send info" /><label for="Berkshires"><b>The Berkshires Arts Festival</b>, Great Barrington, MA &diams; July 2-4, 2010</label><br />
            
             <input name="acs_ny" type="checkbox" id="acs_ny" value="Send me info for the American Craft Show NY" /><label for="acs_ny"><b>American Craft Show NYC</b>, NY &diams; November 19-21, 2010 </label><br />
           
             <input name="acs_fl" type="checkbox" id="acs_fl" value="Send me info for theAmerican Craft Show Sarasota" /><label for="Sarasota"><b>American Craft Show Sarasota</b>, Sarasota, FL &diams; December 3-5, 2010</label></fieldset><br />
        <br /><br />
             
             
              <label for="message">Have questions or comments? Let us know...</label><br /><textarea name="message" rows="8" cols="44" id="message"></textarea><br />
              </p>
              <p id="submit">
                <input type="submit" value="Send" name="submitButton" class="button small" />
              </p>
            </form>
            <p id="success">Your message was sent succesfully!<br />Our mailing list is used as a service to our clients and is not available to anyone for any other use.</p>
            <!-- contact-form END here -->























Here is my Javascript

  1. var options = {
        beforeSubmit:  validate,  // pre-submit callback
        success:       showResponse,  // post-submit callback
        resetForm: true        // reset the form after successful submit
    };
                   
    $('#contact_us').ajaxForm(options);
                   
    function showResponse(responseText, statusText){
        $('#contact_us').slideUp({ opacity: "hide" }, "normal")
        $('#success').slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow")
       
    }
           

           
           
    function validate(formData, jqForm, options) {
        $("p.error").slideUp({ opacity: "hide" }, "fast");
                 
        var firstNameValue = $('input[name=firstName]').fieldValue();
        var lastNameValue = $('input[name=lastName]').fieldValue();
        var addressValue = $('input[name=address]').fieldValue();
        var cityValue = $('input[name=city]').fieldValue();























  2.     var stateSelected = $('state').fieldValue();

  3.     var zipValue = $('input[name=zip]').fieldValue();
        var emailValue = $('input[name=email]').fieldValue();
       
       
        var emailReg = /^([\w-\.]+@([\w-]+\.)+[\w-]{2,4})?$/;
        var correct = true;
       
        if (!firstNameValue[0]) {
            $("p.error.wrong_firstName").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        }
        if (!lastNameValue[0]) {
            $("p.error.wrong_lastName").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        }
        if (!addressValue[0]) {
            $("p.error.wrong_address").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        }
        if (!cityValue[0]) {
            $("p.error.wrong_city").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        }
        if (!stateSelected[0]) {
            $("p.error.wrong_state").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        }
        if (!zipValue[0]) {
            $("p.error.wrong_zip").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        }
       
        if (!emailValue[0]) {
            $("p.error.wrong_email").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        } else if(!emailReg.test(emailValue[0])) {
            $("p.error.wrong_email").slideDown({ opacity: "show" }, "slow");
            correct = false;
        }
       

       
        if (!correct) {return false;}
    }    
                                    













































I'd also like to be able to validate the checkboxes...

Thanks-