Well folks, I appreciate all the help. Engine is running just fine again. Turns out this problem may not have even been related to some of the things I was saying. I tried all the suggestions, but when none worked, I ended up just looking at a diagram of the engine and starting to take things apart and clean them. Took the cylinder cover off the front and went to town with a brush around the piston and the valves. Also liberally sprayed Seafoam in places that I could not get at with the brush but I reasonably believed to lead to parts of the intake or combustion chamber. Manually rotated the flywheel, watched the cycle of the piston and the valves opening and closing, and cleaned as much of the surface area as was made available by the movement in the cycle. Turns out one of the valves was sticking a bit. Got it to operate smoothly, put everything back together, and bingo.
Again, thanks for y'alls insight.