Hi gdave
Is the project variable being populated by a code or keyword operation in some other test, or manually populated?
To remove characters like this I think you would need to create a small script routine to take the Project variable value and strip the brackets before it checks, like this :
def StripBrackets():
aqObject.CheckProperty(Aliases.browser.yourPage.textnode, "contentText", cmpContains, Project.Variables.valueWithBrackets.strip("()"))
Let me know if this helps or if I can provide another solution perhaps.
thanks
Mike