There seems to be a bug still present in jQuery 1.6.2 that has an issue with .clone() and .html(). I created a fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/Vxyu3/12/ that should help explain
May be a closure reference bug. Try defining the cloned parameter in global scope, but keep the assignment within the ready callback.
No, that doesn't work. It looks like a jQuery/IE bug where using a jQuery object for the HTML() function causes some problems.
Try this instead: domCloneMe.html(cloned.html());