thanks for the help! fix time : 30 seconds! put about 3 good squirts of carb cleaner in the shifter and started shifting. in about 5 trys it was clicking better than the rear shifter. gave the other one some squirts and now it's better! they're both better! yabadabado!
$100 saved on new shifters = $100 spent on new beer
that shiftmate does look pretty kickass though. i could have used that on my previous frankenbike. i'll look into it as i'm trying to uprade some components. thanks again for all input.