ActionScript 2.0 :: Comparing Equality Of Vars?

Im trying to create a 'simple' check statement for a textbox of type input. I used the following to check whether the user has entered something in the textbox

Code:

if(subject =="" || message =="")
{
trace("please enter something");
}

Simple eh ? well unfortunately if the user hits the space key in both these text boxes this statement validates false ! ..
What am I doing wrong !? lol, I even tried

Code:
if(subject ==null || message ==null)
{
trace("please enter something");
}

and i get same problem.