alt-f2 launcher does not work immediately after login

After login to ubuntu-2d, the alt-f2 launcher does not work.

I also then verified that this same behavior occurs as a new 'demo' user that i created, *and* as the system 'Guest' login, as long as you remember to choose 'Ubuntu 2d'.
  To reproduce:
  1. login to Ubuntu-2d session. Note, I've verified using my existing account (smoser), a completely new user, and the system 'guest' user.
  2. wait till crickets are done chirping
  3. press alt-f2
  4. type 'gcalc' . At this point hitting enter does nothing. I am unable to launch a program.
  5. hit 'PrintScreen' and save the screenshot as 'guest login first-alt-f2 press'
  6. press alt-f2. The run dialog generally seems usable now (ie, the 'printscreen' seems to have fixed it).
  7. type 'gcalc', the attached screenshot in 'guest login alt-f2 after screenshot' is what I see.

Attached are 2 screenshots that demonstrate the problem.

Note, I haven't actually gone through the 7 steps above with the current system, but I did verify that after a upgrade, login as smoser, that the alt-f2 was broken just now (using current precise).

Related bugs:
 * bug 842413: alt+f2 - can type, doing nothing

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: unity-2d 4.12.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-4.10-generic 3.2.0-rc5
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-4-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.90-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Dec 12 11:40:18 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: unity-2d
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2011-11-07 (35 days ago)