title: jQuery Validation Plugin - adding rules that apply to multiple fields
body: <p>I'm using the <a href="http://bassistance.de/jquery-plugins/jquery-plugin-validation/" rel="noreferrer">jQuery Validation</a> plugin:</p>
  
  <p>I have several fields in a large form that I want to apply the same rules to.  I've simplified the code for this example.  This code doesn't work, but I want to do something like this.  The second rule should apply to both <code>first_name</code> and <code>last_name</code>.  I want to encapsulate all the rules here in this function and not edit the class lists of some of the form elements to add a required class or whatever.</p>
  
  <p>(Again,  I have several different groups of form fields with different requirements that I want to group.  I only put <code>required: true</code> in that element for simplicity)</p>
  
  <pre><code>$('#affiliate_signup').validate(
         {
            rules: 
            {
              email: {
                  required: true,
                  email: true
              },
              first_name,last_name: {
                  required: true
              },
              password: {
                  required: true,
                  minlength: 4
              }
            }
         });
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance. </p>