I just upgraded to 2.6.2 windows from python.org and it fails as well:

Python 2.6.2 (r262:71605, Apr 14 2009, 22:40:02) [MSC v.1500 32 bit 
(Intel)] on win32

I hope Vinay can track this down in case it's a race condition that's 
just moving around between versions or track it down to something 
concrete that has actually been purposefully fixed somewhere else that 
fixes this too.  I guess we'll see.

Lowell - what's the difference between my 2.6.2 shown above and yours 
(release26-maint, Apr 19 2009)?  Yours is on ubuntu and mine is on 
windows, but I'm not familiar with the two version types (r262:71605 
vs. release26-maint).  Yours is 5 days newer - is it a patch?  What was 
changed in it that might affect this problem?  Just wondering aloud 
until Vinay can help make sense of all of this.  Thanks everyone.