writing from a as function to a flash form field

I have a customer requirement to write a timer into an application so that they can time how long an action takes place. So...

I am trying to get this getTimer() setInterval() thing to write to a textfield in a flash form.(MX7)
Please review the code below and see if you can see a stupid mistake i am making....I am so close and yet, so far away...

if a write an alert in the updateTimer function, the alert will show, but it still will not display the variable "elapsedTime" even in the alert....

Could this be a scope issue?

Attach Code

//the actionscript is in a <cfformitem type=script>
function startTimer() {
alert ("in Start Timer");

myInterval = setInterval(updateTimer, 1000);
timerStatus = "TICKING";
};

function updateTimer() {
elapsedTime = getTimer();
stwa.text= elapsedTime;

};

<cfinput type="text" label="Timed Duration" name="stwa" width="100" >
<cfinput type="button" label="Start" name="theButton" onClick="startTimer()" value="Start" >
form fields:

 

it might be a communication-to-flash issue. JS communicates nicely to flash.

is your flash object named?
is swLiveConnect = true in flash embed?
//JS CODE:
window.document.flashObj.SetVariable("variableName", "value");