Hey brian, yeah If i understand you correctly, I anticipated this problem, and there is a solution, it's just not very discoverable :(
As you noticed, after connecting (control-dragging) a "Set Value of HTML Element" Action to a <select>, <input type=radio>, or <input type=checkbox>, you now get a special UI for a dropdown or a checkbox.
That's cool, but you can't enter a text value anymore (like a variable). that sux.
But you can get the old behavior back by right-clicking the Action and selecting "Show Value Text Field".
I'm open to suggestion on whether this new feature is good or bad or how the switch could be made more discoverable. :|
TD