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Thanks for the replies, guys. looks like it was the rear cable. i disassembled the PASS drum and pulled the rear cable out. it was bound up from a combination of rust in the housing where it bolts to the backing plate, "waves" bent into the cable inside the drum, and a sharp bend in the sleeve where it exits from the backing plate. I worked it over, back and forth, with copious WD-40 and got it moving again, event to the point where the spring on the portion inside the drum would pull the cable back some when it was released. I reinstalled, and voila, parking brake holds. To be fair - I found out i was also kind of being a wuss when applying the pedal...

I'm not comfortable with the way the ebrake is at this point, but at least I know what the problem is, and that my brake rebuild was correct. I will replace the rear sleeved cable on both sides just to be safe (they're like $16 each at rock auto.) Thanks again for your suggestions - mark