So even after I fixed the form nested in a paragraph yesterday I had problems. In IE6 under Windows XP the font on the page with the form continued to render differently than the font on other pages, even though both use the same style sheet. I looked all over to find a solution or other mention of this issue.
I ended up over at Velvet Ant's guide to compliant XHTML forms by Lawrence Edwards. It contains detailed explanations of how to construct an XHTML compliant form to use with your favorite CGI program.
My form is fine now, and boy is Velvet Ant a cool name or what?