what version of DataAssist are you using?
In version 2.0.8, the insert and update behavior will automatically enclose all columns using the ` character to avoid problems with column names like this.
if you dont edit the code, are you getting an error message?
one thing to double check is your form element names.
they will be named for for the column,so the first name form element will be named "first name":
<input type="text" name="first name" id="first name" value="" size="32" />
spaces are not valid in form element names, so this will need to be changed to:
<input type="text" name="firstname" id="firstname" value="" size="32" />
after renaming all the form elements with spaces in them, you will need to edit the insert and update behaviors to rebind the columns to the correct form elements.