Dean,
Just revisiting this now. Before you spend the time to take a look - I noticed that if I put the full HTML code into the Custom HTML section, the codes are working properly. If I target a page that refers to the code, it is not working.
I found another example with !button. When people were going to unsubscribe, they did not see the button. I was using the option - "Alternately, enter a URL to forward the user to" and had the message code in the HTML page that was opened on forward.
I changed it and posted the HTML code into the regular section, made all of the links to images and such absolute, and the button showed up.
Am I missing something if I want to you the "forward the user to" option?