Woo Hoo! Boy is sure does help to read the instructions sometimes ;)
Following the advice of CodeWeavers' own document:
http://www.codeweavers.com/site/support/docs/unsupported/sups
I installed IE6, the MDAC, and Windows Scripting Hosts from Microsoft before installing ChemOffice with the default settings in CXO. It hiccupped about not having some MS Office add-ins (might help if I installed MS Office), and then proceeded to install flawlessly. I chose to only install ChemDraw (I never use any of the other ChemOffice components), and now I'm sitting here staring in amazement as ChemDraw 8.0.3 runs on my linux desktop. Goodbye, Windows, been nice knowing you :).