jquery - How do I select an option select and set it?

Question

Here is what i have and here is the html...what am i doing wrong?

$("#request_showdate_1i option[value='2012']").attr("selected","selected");

  <select name="request[showdate(1i)]" id="request_showdate_1i">
<option value="2005">2005</option>
<option value="2006">2006</option>
<option value="2007">2007</option>
<option value="2008">2008</option>
<option value="2009">2009</option>
<option value="2010" selected="selected">2010</option>
<option value="2011">2011</option>
<option value="2012">2012</option>
<option value="2013">2013</option>
<option value="2014">2014</option>
<option value="2015">2015</option>
 </select>

Answer 1

All you need to do is:

 $('#request_showdate_1i').val('2012');

jQuery will do the rest :)

See the second example here: http://api.jquery.com/val/#val2