I'll try to keep this as "family appropriate" as possible...

Electric will head towards an earth ground before anything else. You are just giving it a path of least resistance, being that copper wire is a good conductor. I seen the after effects of a bolt of lightning coming in a power outlet in a guys living room and shooting across the room(thru the couch) and exiting out another power outlet. Sure trashed the electric lines in that house.
That's why lightning will hit a tree, it's well grounded and very wet inside from the sap, and very tall.

run it under the suction cup... That's how they teach it in school.

The voltage does not stay hidden under the suction cup but in the can capacitors mounted on the circuit board. There is a video on YouTube that shows 4 or 5 can capacitors piggybacked together and supplied with voltage. When they flip a switch the can caps' will smash an aluminum can with the voltage surge, it's cool.

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Electric will head towards an earth ground before anything else.

I agree for items plugged in. (Or 30,000 amps from a bolt of lightning). Lightning is static elictricy on a huge level. We are talking about electricity stored in capacitors This item isn't plugged in and ground has been taken out of the circuit. To complete the circuit you need to involve the other side of the capacitance, which is not connected in any way to ground.

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

The voltage does not stay hidden under the suction cup but in the can capacitors mounted on the circuit board.

That is true also, these caps will hold a charge, but a huge charge is held inside the glass. The entire CRT tube is a huge capacitor and that's where a large shock is hiding.

Really, don't take my word for it. Google this for yourself. There are lots of documets out there. People have been dealing with this ever since the days of black and white. Here's another link for you to consider.

http://lowendmac.com/tech/crt_danger.html

In all actuality, unless these units have been plugged in recently you would have very little to worry about. I would discharge them anyway just to be safe. An ounce of prevention is worth something... something... something.