Marc...I have double and triple checked everything and built many throw-away lists to make sure it wasn't a freak accident...but I can repeat it.
I know it sounds strange...but to me the key piece of evidence is that the DOM is rendering the same field in the two different lists...differently.
The only other variable is that the list "Mfr Specifications" does use ContentTypes.
If you want to remote into my computer and look around, you are more than welcome.
Let me know what else I can check.
Scott