I think it is so it can keep consistency with the available options used when settings multiple css styles in one function call through the use of an object, for example...
$(".element").css( { marginLeft : "200px", marginRight : "200px" } );
as you can see the property are not specified as strings. JQuery also supports using string if you still wanted to use the dash, or for properties that perhaps cannot be set without the dash, so the following still works...
$(".element").css( { "margin-left" : "200px", "margin-right" : "200px" } );
without the quotes here, the javascript would not parse correctly as property names cannot have a dash in them.
EDIT: It would appear that JQuery is not actually making the distinction itsleft, instead it is just passing the property specified for the DOM to care about, most likely with style[propertyName];