Jquery set div width fails in IE7

cssinternet-explorer-7jquerywidth

I have the following code and it works correctly in FF and IE8 but fails in IE 7 anyone have an idea or hack

    if ($("#midRight:contains('Quick Links')").length == 0) {
  $("#midCenter").css({'width':'298px'});
 }

html is basic

    <div id="midRight">
bunch of text
</div>

the starting css is

#midRight {width:440px;}

IE7's javascript error is "Object doesn't support this property or method. BTW if I throw an alert in BEFORE the width change it works fine. If I move the alert to after the width change it never fires so at least I know that the conditional statement works right in IE7 just not the change of width.

Best Answer

$("#midCenter").css({width:298});