<label> and <asp:textbox> bafflement

[CharlesA]

Hi folks,
I'm using ASP.net 1.1 with C#

I've got this kind of thing going
<div class="row">
<label class="col1">Rm Name</label>
<asp:textbox id="txtRM" runat="server" cssclass="col2" ReadOnly="True"
EnableViewState="False"></asp:textbox>
<label class="col3">Rm Phone</label>
<asp:textbox id="txtRmPhone" runat="server" cssclass="col4" ReadOnly="True"
EnableViewState="False"></asp:textbox></div>
the labels are not runat="server" and are HtmlControls... and they have a
class of "col1" and "col3" whilst the text boxes have "col2" and "col4"

Each col is a floated element with text aligns of right (for labels) and
left for textbox

Here's my question

the text size in both the label and the textbox is set to a relative font
size from Body of Small and is set at 70%

The text size inside the label is exactly the same as the text size inside
the textbox and yet when they display in IE6 (and it is our only targeted
client because it's an intranet) , the label is aligned to the top and not
the bottom of the text box...

why is this..is there anyway to align the label to the bottom of the textbox
w/o using position:relative;top: xpx? also vertical align never ever seems to
do anything in IE

thanks and regards in advance for your help
CharlesA