Clustering: Errors if controller started after OVS configured with set-manager

If I have an OVS instance with "set-manager" set to point to the controller
ovs-vsctl set-manager tcp:<ip>:6640

THEN I remove journal etc (persisted data) and start controller I see following over and over again:
http://pastebin.com/TcwBS9dr

If I reverse that order:
(start ODL with cleaned out journal etc, wait until initialized)
THEN
set-manager

I do not.

What I see instead is over and over:
2015-05-17 09:32:31,512 | WARN | ds-oper-thread-0 | TransactionProxy | 179 - org.opendaylight.controller.sal-distributed-datastore - 1.2.0.SNAPSHOT | Failed to acquire operation permit for transaction member-1-txn-85

Every 5 seconds.

Note I haven't done anything at all except load my features in either case. There is no config other than a bridge in either case, and NO PERSISTED STATE in any case.