> Does Ubuntu/Debian identify one of the cards as the "primary" 
> somewhere?  
Nope.
> How/where does it tie a particular NIC to ethX?  Does 
> anybody have any suggestions that I could try?
>
> I appreciate any help.  Thanks!
>
> -Chris
>
>   
Sounds like a route issue that isn't setup for eth1. Any DHCP client 
should set up a route for you but if you're doing things statically, you 
need to set up the route and make sure it's persistent after reboots. 
Run the "route" command as super user and look for the relevant 
information.

http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/usersguide/linux_ugrouting.html