89 cherokee, hood left open in rain and wont start

I have a jeep cherokee that use to run but my son left the hood open for a couple days when it rained. Now the car wont start. it just cranks. sometimes I get it to start by playing with the throttle but the engine sounds horrible and it dies out when I realease the gas pedal. I changed all the spark plugs and distributor and cap, but still no luck. Any help would be appreciated.

I forgot to mention the jeep is an automatic 6 cyl 4wd.

air intake/filter clogged?

check out your distributor, could be some water/moisture in there

try this:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=687635

Because of the moisture , something is shorting to ground causeing poor start and ignition.It was ok before the rain' so somethings still wet.

If you can get the vehicle inside and start it in total darkness with a guy on each side of engine you may see where it,s arcing to ground.

could you use a hair dryer to dry all suspected areas for potential. spark plugs ect..distributer bottom inside, you said you replaced cap.

Just a few thoughts.