Don't think you'd have much success trying to bonsai a palm, David. They are monocots too.
Pygmy Date palm is a good one that will grow slowly, stay small, and they are beautiful. Sometimes they will put up multiple trunks too. Here's the database entry for it
Pygmy Date Palm (Phoenix roebelenii)
Scroll down to the bottom, where there are lots of pictures of them. I have a few pictures there of the gorgeous dark red fruit, the clump and a new trunk coming up from the base of mine. They are at the end of my driveway in full Florida sun, and do great. They're also relatively cold tolerant, so you could leave them out later in the fall than some of the tender ones.
The only 'down' side to it is the thorns. They are very prickly! But I just wear leather gloves when I trim off the dead fronds and it's fine. The trunk is not prickly, just the inner parts of the fronds. (there's a picture in the database of the long sharp thorns, too)
