I have had my choke set very lean (Carter Quadra Jet) and started to have some cold start issues.  When we got ready to leave Funfest, Vince Igo helped me out by performing the old hand choke, cupping his hands over the carb while I turned it over, started right up!  Ran great all the way back to Tennessee.  This past Saturday I decided to adjust the choke and from a cold condition I pumped the throttle 1 time and loosened and rotated the choke adjustment just enough to close the choke and re-tightened.   I turned it over and it started right up.  I let it run long enough to be sure the choke would go to the fully open position, it did.  I cleaned the carb with some spray cleaner and it ran great.  Shut it off and restarted several times and it started instantly.   Pulled it in the garage and shut it off.  Tuesday I hop in headed for the local Vett monthly club meeting and cranked it dead, barley fired once or twice.  Since then I have pulled and cleaned  the plugs confirmed spark and timing.  Plugs were gas soaked and fowled. 

I tried tonight and never even touched the gas and the carb appears to be loaded with gas.  I'm thinking maybe the float is stuck???  The plugs are soaked with gas.  The distributor is new, less than a year.  The carb came with the car obviously not original.  I have not done anything to it but clean it.  The plugs and wires don't have 5000 miles on them.  It's got me pulling out my hair, what's left!!   Any suggestions, I'm thinking carb issue.     Classic Corvette Extravaganza is a week away!! Thanks!!

Mel, pull all of the plugs and let that puppy air out! If you have air, blow into all of the cylinders thru the plug holes, and then open the carb ALL the way up, and stick something in there to hold the throttle open, and blow thru the intake, on all four corners of the carb.
Ya gotta dry that thing out before all that fuel winds up in the crankcase.
Once you have it dried, install the plugs, make sure the choke is not closed, and fire it up. It should start once you get all of the raw fuel dried. If the carb is flooding, it will be obvious, as you'll be able to see fuel dripping, or pouring down the front venturis of the carb. If it is flooding, you may need to have it cleaned, or you could try lightly tapping on the front of the carb, where the fuel line goes in, with a small hammer. A lot of time, if there is some crap stuck in the needle/seat, tapping on it will dislodge it. Tapping will also un-stick a stuck float, but that's not a permanent fix for that.

"I pumped the throttle 1 time and loosened and rotated the choke adjustment just enough to close the choke and re-tightened.

You should not pump the carb until you have the choke set. If you pumped it, then turned the choke adjustment, you did nothing but put a lot of tension on the choke, and then the next time the throttle was opened, the choke flapped all the way shut(depending on how hot it is at the time). To set the choke, prop the throttle open a little, then set the choke...

Thanks for the info, I thought you had to pump 1 time to get the choke to react.  It was stone cold when I did this.  I'll try to get her dried out.  It's and old Carter quadrajet, not attached to it.  I'm looking real hard at the Eldabrok 600cfm electric choke.  My neighbor has one in his 76 and has had good results....

Normally, IF the choke is set correctly, you would pump it once to set the choke, but...you said you had it set "lean", which means there was no tension on the choke spring. Opening the throttle would do nothing, as far as moving the choke, in that case. You would need to open the throttle up a bit, and then adjust the choke so it would close almost completely, close the throttle, and then start. It should start on "fast" idle, and the choke should open slowly as it warms up.
You should also check to see if the choke pull-off is working, once it does start. If the engine is cold, and you pump the pedal once, it will slam all the way shut. Then, once started, the pull-off should open the choke blade up a bit, so the engine doesn't flood from not enough air. The pull-off is on the pass side, rear of the carb, and is vacuum operated.

I wimped out Joel and picked up the Edelbock after work!!  I'm a sucker for shiny!!  Really, I just want the car to start!!!  It has been getting harder and harder to start lately.  If it were the original quadra-jet I would rebuild it.  We'll see how this Edelbrock does!

Changed the carb out today. Had to fabricate block offs on the intake for the choke heat tubes and the EGR valve.  The EGR valve interfered with  the carb so it had to go.   Had to get creative with the throttle and trans kick down, but got it all working smooth.

Time for a compression test, it sounds like...
It may have jumped time(timing chain).
It's obviously got fuel, so how good is the spark? Sometimes, when plugs get really wet-fuel soaked, they are no good any more...they just won't fire properly. Ya might screw a new set in there first, and see if that is the problem.
Try to borrow/buy a spark tester...one of those tools that hooks up to the plug end of the wire, that has an adjustable gap(set the gap a little wider than you would for the spark plug), and see how good the spark is. It should be a nice, strong, blue spark. A yellow spark is weak, and may not fire. If you have a good, blue spark, then...you probably have a cam timing issue.
Fuel+Spark+Compression = Runs...but...it all has to happen at the right time.
The fact that it was running before you messed with it(just funnin!) seems to lean toward the plugs just being fuel soaked...swap them out and see what happens. You need new ones now anyway...

Thanks, I'll get a set tomorrow.  I was running Bosh Platinums, have never used them before.  I think I will go back to the AC delcos.  This is turning out to be an expensive weekend!! 

not to sound like "mr obvious".. but.. you might go back over your vacuum lines.. just in case... i know i've been guilty of tinkering with something under the hood, and accidently "bump" off a larger vacuum hose(like brake booster or pcv line).... though, that wouldn't explain the gas soaked plugs...