TE450 Won't run - Beating my head against the wall

Hey guys, I've been reading here quite a bit and finally snagged a good deal on an 04 te450. The bike was originally well taken care of, the second owner bought it when the auto decompressor failed and then let it sit.

When I picked it up, it hardly ran, the seller could barely get it to idle for me. I took it home anyways and ironically, it started first try for me. I rode it down the block only to realize it was out of gas. Pushed it to the gas station, filled up, and off I went. Electric and kick start working fine as long as I used the manual decompressor. When I got home, I let it idle a little bit, then I shut it off. I tried to start it again, but it wouldn't go. Only little coughs from both kicking and electric start.

Over the past two days, I have ripped the carb apart 3 times, checked the valve clearances, charged the battery, checked tps, and spark. I got it to go once yesterday with a bit of starter fluid, and it ran great. Could not start it again after that, even with starter fluid.

Tl;DR:
Bike starts intermittently with no rhyme or reason. When I turn the electric starter over, the bike chugs and tries to fire, but doesnt get running, sometimes backfiring. If i run it wide open for a bit and then close the throttle and let the decompressor out, it seems to fire better, but rarely starts. Once it starts, the thing runs really well except for a bog/stall when I wack the throttle open from idle.

What I have done:

Cleaned carb and all jets, set float height to ~11mm/parallel with gasket surface
Checked choke valve, and accelerator pump
Plug has fuel residue on it
Fresh 91 octane gas
Checked for blue/white spark with multiple plugs
Put a fresh plug in anyways
Checked valve lash (loose on the intakes, perfect on the exhaust)
Checked tps (4.5k ohm closed, 990 ohm open)
I have a new decompressor lobe and needle valve seat on order since both are having issues

Things I plan to check/try:

Gear position sensor resistance
Cam Timing
Kill Switch, wiring
Crank on the fuel screw one way and then another.

Any Ideas? Maybe a failing crank trigger/stator? The bike lights up every time I turn it over, and the sparks seemed consistent when I was turning it over with the electric starter. The bike also seems to idle really rich in my opinion. Once I get it rev'd a little it runs better, the exhaust also stinks pretty bad during idle compared to my cbr600 and my room mate's wr450.

Update:

I managed to get the bike to run after work today. I think my suspicion of the bike running rich was correct. After kicking over with a closed petcock for a while and the throttle cracked open, I was able to get it to go. I'm guessing that the failing float valve is causing the bike to flood on startup. Seems that these older 4 strokes are very sensitive to jetting.

Those early 4-strokes had an issue with valves. They were TI and wore out quickly, just like the Honda CRF250Rs of the same vintage,

Check your valce clearance and DON'T force it to run if they are out of spec.
Riders replaced them with SS valves, just like the Hondas.

It sounds like a fuelling issue, however run all electric lines to check against a short along the the frame. Maybe a tank flush is also a prospect.