Validating a model and focus to the element if validation fails
I'm not very familiar with Backbone, however I do have a couple of comments:


To simplify your life, check out Marionette Forms. It can handle quick validation of forms. This is an alternative to Backbone Forms, which is generally more demanding in terms of code needed.
The following snippet:

if(!validUser){
    $(e.target).find('#userName').select();
} else{
    $(e.target).find('#userName').next(':input').select();
}

if(!validPass){
    $(e.target).find('#userName').select();
}


could simply be:

if (validUser &amp;&amp; validPass) {
    $(e.target).find('#userName').next(':input').select();
} else {
    $(e.target).find('#userName').select();
}