I figured out the problem(s):
1) The AFM was getting snagged at about half way open.
2) There was some dried gunk in the throttle body that limited airflow and made it tough to open the throttle all the way.
3) There was some crud on the inside of the distributor cap (dont know how it got there) on the little plates that the spark plug wires connect to. This meant not enough spark
Problem is all fixed now
Now its time to fix the other stuff on the car. See post entitled "cant control my hose." for details
thanks for everybody's help