[jQuery] mouse hover focus not working in FF2

[skunkwerk]

I'm using the jquery mousewheel plugin, which is working fine on IE 6
and firefox 3, but not firefox 2.  firebug shows no javascript errors.

my code is supposed to switch focus between two elements as the mouse
hovers over them (one contains a flash widget):

$(function() {
        $('#widget')
                .mousewheel(function(event, delta) {
                event.preventDefault();//still propagates though
                })
               .hover(function() { $('#widget').select(); $
('#widget').focus(); }, function() { $('#mainWrapper').select(); $
('#mainWrapper').focus(); });
});

on firefox 2, when i mouse over one, it prevents the other from
scrolling but doesn't scroll itself.  when i move to the other
element, both scroll.

is this a firefox 2 issue, or a jquery issue?
any suggestions/workarounds?

thanks