JQUERY ComboBox Hack for custom input
===

I'm using the code for this combobox:

http://jqueryui.com/demos/autocomplete/#combobox

I thought I would be slick by commenting out this part, which would allow text entry beyond unmatched queries.

                            /*Commented out to allow user input
					            if (!valid) {
					                 remove invalid value, as it didn't match anything
					                $(this).val("");
					                select.val("");
					                input.data("autocomplete").term = "";
					                return false;
					            }*/

The problem I'm running into with my cleverness is that I can't get this value while validating the form in JS. Any ideas on how I could do this?