Gore Airport Visit Not According To Plan

What a week he's having!

Former Vice President Al Gore kicked things off on a decidedly high note as he addressed the star-studded audience at the Oscars and strode off arm-in-arm with Leonardo Di Caprio, only to return with the producers of "An Inconvenient Truth" as the global warming documentary in which Gore stars won two Academy Awards.

The next day the former Democratic party standard-bearer enjoyed the afterglow of speculation by his supporters and others talking about the chances of him running again for president – something he's said he doesn't plan to do.

Another sunset and sunrise and Gore was back in the headlines in a new way – as a conservative group that disagrees with him on global warming painted him as a environmental hypocrite, pointing to the high use of electricity it says is racked up monthly at the Gore family mansion.

A Gore spokeswoman parried that one, pointing out that the Gore family invests enough in alternative energy projects to balance out his electricity use.

Wednesday, Gore found himself at the center of yet another flap – and this time, no one was trying to say it was his fault.

A spokeswoman for Nashville International Airport – Tennessee home turf for Gore – says Gore and two of his associates were mistakenly sent to their flight gate without first being screened by airport security.

Airport spokeswoman Lynne Lowrance says an American Airlines employee led former Vice President Al Gore and two associates down to a lower level and used her security badge to swipe the Gore party on through.

Lowrance says an airport officer assigned to escort Gore to his gate was to meet him at the security checkpoint, but when Gore did not turn up, the officer went to the gate for the flight and found Gore, his communications director Kalee Kreider and another staffer waiting there for their flight.

The officer asked them if they went through security, and when they said they hadn't, they were taken back and fully screened. Gore did not complain and cooperated fully, according to Lowrance.

"Everyone goes through security," she said of the employee's action. "It showed bad judgment. They were trying to be helpful, maybe too helpful."

The employee will be required to take an airport security training course again, Lowrance said.

The company does not discuss security issues, American Airlines spokesman John Hotard said.

Kreider said Gore's staff usually notifies airports where he will be flying to make sure they know the former vice president will be coming through.

"I was there, and we didn't know if standards had changed or what," she said. "There are different policies at different airports and you basically do what you're asked to do."

Gore was on his way to deliver his presentation on global warming at the University of Miami.