Thanks Joe, that makes more sense - levers not touching the stop contact seem way more common than there being something wrong with the switch contacts.
Ferret, I suggest you do as Joe suggests and straighten the cable then cable-tie it to the carburetor. You'll have to hand-bend the cable inner back to straight as your first step. Once it is straight even when you are not touching it, it is time for the cable tie. It looks as if the cable tie has been broken or removed as the first step, then the cable inner was bent because there was nothing to keep the cable from buckling under load. There's a good chance there's nothing else wrong.
