Help with Electrical Gremlin

Thank you for the help, everyone.

There appears to have been two different problems—electrical and tuning. The electrical seems to be resolved by replacing a broken eye connector and tightening the starter cable. The symptoms of shortening out when starting has not reoccurred.
I was finally able to get the car idling long enough to get the timing light on it. The timing was way off. That has been reset to 16 initial and 34 total. I drove around the block and got gas without issue. I need to tweak the carb, it is running a little rich.

Thanks again for all the help