Question about centering div placement and <p> gaps

I’m building a mock up site for a client and and 2 things have happened that I’m kind of confused about.

http://www.johncliffordtaylor.com/ep/test1.html

The 2 things I’m kind of confused about are:

  1. when I add:

 <p>
 If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel fee to let me know.
 </p>
 

some basic text I get some strange gaps above and below the <p> tags. In IE I only get them below but still kind of an undersized result.

2)There is a little message about asks the client if they have any questions. Its just a basic <div> tag. But I have wanted to make the white part of that tag only 785px like the images on display and center it. Now I can add the width:785px to the div ID but the problem is once I have it sized I’m not sure how to center it. I’ve tried doing a text align. and that centers the text within the div but not the actual div its self. Any one got any ideas about the <p> gaps and the centering the <div> placement it would really be helpful and appreciated.