Ok, so it sounds like I'm not missing an easier way to do things... essentially it means copying the clips and then separately doing other things...   thanks!

Take a look at track templates as scook suggested. Might be just what you need.

IIRC Noel said that anything is technically possible. If so, I want to be able to copy the entire track as is (except for buss assignment etc.) between projects. I have lots of linked clips within each MIDI track. Currently, when the clips are copied to another project, the links get broken. 

i wanted to do this last night, but learned here that this task is not really possible.  so i ended up creating a track template of the track i wanted to copy and paste into another project.  then i created a new track with the new template in the project i wanted to paste the track into.  then i copied the clips from the original project into the new track i created with the new template.  that worked well.  the new track had all the pro channel settings, the vst plugins & all the automation intact.  it would be nice to be able to copy and paste a track from one project to another, but this workaround was pretty easy & didn't take too long. thanks guys!