Help, Using nodesets in ExtElements and perserving white space

[John Gentilin]

In my extension element, I am trying to evaluate an XPath
Expression that resolves to a parameter. The parameter
consists of a block of XML. i.e.
<xsl:param name="newCommand">
   <element name="xx">
      <tag>This is some test</tag>
    </element>
</xsl:param>
Now when I look at the XPath results, I get all the XML Data
except for the whitespace ??
I have tried both the raw parameter (as a RTFrag) and converting
it to a nodeset before passing it to my extension element.
I also have the decl <xsl:preserve-space elements="*"/>	

The Usage is:

My Extension Element Decl.

 <xfe:onEvent type="select"
  class="xfef:event.xfeInsertXMLElement"
  select="/ApplicationConfig"
  template="$newCommand"
  refresh="true"/>
In the code, I evaluate the attribute template which will either
return a NodeList or XRTreeFrag. Either way, if I walk the first
node on the NodeList, the variable content is there except for
the whitespace nodes.
Am I just asking for too much ??

TIA
John G