Using jQuery inside a plugin, passing functions to plugins

I am attempting to customize the CharsCounter plugin, but I am finding that I cannot access jQuery from inside the plugin. The global jQuery does not exist there. jQuery is definitely being loaded before FCKeditor.

Another problem which I think is related is trying to pass a function into a plugin as a configuration option. When I try to access the function inside of CharsCounter, it has been converted to a string which contains the code from the function.

I am using FCKeditor 2.5.1, jQuery 1.2.2, and the jQuery FCKEditor Plugin.

Suggestions? Can anyone tell me what is isolating plugins from other JavaScript code?

Thanks.