why are the gtest framework tests failing when my custom old tests work?

Makefile-custom

@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 # -*- makefile -*-
 VERSION:=${shell cat VERSION}
 
+#CXX:=g++-fsf-4.4 -m32
+
 CXXFLAGS :=
 #CXXFLAGS += -O3 -funroll-loops -fexpensive-optimizations -DNDEBUG
 #CXXFLAGS += -ffast-math 
 
-#CXXFLAGS := -g3 -O0
-CXXFLAGS := -g3 -O2 -32
+#CXXFLAGS := -g3 -O0 -m32
+CXXFLAGS := -g3 -O2 
 #CXXFLAGS += -D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG  # Appears broken
 CXXFLAGS += -Wall
 CXXFLAGS += -Wimplicit 
@@ -129,5 +131,9 @@ ais19.o: ais.h
 ais_py.o: ais.h
 test_libais.o: ais.h
 
-ais8_001_22_unittest: ais8_001_22_unittest.cpp ais8_001_22.o ais.o
-	g++ -32 -g -Wall $^ -o $@ -L/sw/lib -I/sw/include -lgtest -lgtest_main 
+test2: ais8_001_22_unittest
+
+#
+ais8_001_22_unittest: ais8_001_22_unittest.cpp ais8_001_22.o ais.o ais8.o
+	${CXX} -g -Wall $^ -o $@ -L/sw/lib -I/sw/include -lgtest -lgtest_main 
+	./$@

ais8_001_22_unittest.cpp

@@ -39,14 +39,23 @@ const string nth_field(const string &str, const size_t n, const char c) {
 }
 
 TEST(EmptyTest, Empty) {
-
+    // FIX: test the empty string case.  What should it do?
 }
 
+// This is really not working right.  What is going on?
 TEST(PointTest, Point) {
     // AreaNotice: type=0  start=2011-07-06 00:00:00  duration=60 m  link_id=10  sub-areas: 1
     const string msg_str = "!AIVDM,1,1,,A,81mg=5@0EP:0>H0007P>0<D1<qp400000,0*1D";
     const string body(nth_field(msg_str,5,','));
     cout << "body: " << body << endl;
-    Ais8_001_22 msg("81mg=5@0EP:0>H0007P>0<D1<qp400000");
-
+    Ais8_001_22 msg(body.c_str());
+    cout << "msg8_1_22: " << endl;
+    msg.print();
+    cout << "mid:" << msg.message_id << endl;
+    EXPECT_EQ(msg.message_id,8);
+    EXPECT_EQ(msg.repeat_indicator,0);
+    EXPECT_EQ(msg.mmsi,123456789);
+    EXPECT_EQ(msg.spare,0);
+    EXPECT_EQ(msg.dac,1);
+    EXPECT_EQ(msg.fi,22);
 } // PointTest