arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements() takes longer in tool than in ArcMap?

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Has anyone else noticed that accessing elements from arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements() through a tool script takes longer than within ArcMap? Whether using a specific name, wildcard or nothing, the call takes on the order of 90 seconds or longer to return:

arcpy.AddMessage(" Start: " + str(datetime.now()))mapDoc = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(mapDocumentPath)elements = arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mapDoc, "GRAPHIC_ELEMENT")arcpy.AddMessage(" Finished: " + str(datetime.now()))Start: 2011-05-24 12:29:28.479000Finished: 2011-05-24 12:31:10.510000When the call is made within ArcMap the return is instantaneous.

mapDoc = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("CURRENT")elements = arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mapDoc, "GRAPHIC_ELEMENT")In both instances, I'm referencing the same map document.

Using ArcGIS 10 SP2.

1. It may not be obvious but the results are instantaneous when the script is run against "CURRENT". Specify any map document other than "CURRENT" and the script will slow down.
2. I executed a loop as Jason suggested and found little difference between the first call to ListLayoutElements() and the last. The first selection took 28 seconds while the other nine averaged 24 seconds.
3. The map document has nine data frames and nine corresponding legend elements that were converted to graphics. When these "legends" are present in the document then ListLayoutElements() is slow; when they're deleted then ListLayoutElements() returns immediately.

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