jquery 1.3 select elements

jquery 1.3 select elements


I cant seem to set the value of any select elements using val. Input
type=text is working fine.
So I have something like:
    $('#usa_reference_state_id').val("2")
    alert($('#usa_reference_state_id').val() )
and the alert is "" so no value was set. I am 100% sure that 2 is in
the list of options for #usa_reference_state_id.