How to set value in form validate for later validation functions
Is the problem just that your not passing $form_state by reference in your _editnode_validate validation function?

// note the &amp; before $form_state to pass by reference
function _editnode_validate ($form, &amp;$form_state) 

   $test_value = $form_state['input']['name'];
   $form_state['values']['name'] = $test_value;