In a few hours, Al Gore is scheduled to give a major speech in Washington, D.C., where, in the words of the We Campaign, the Nobel Laureate will issue a major challenge, "essentially pressing the reset button on how we think about energy and climate ... It will propose a means of tapping America’s innovative skills to build a more secure energy future."

Sounds like a big deal, which is why EnviroWonk writer Samantha Hulkower is currently en route to Constitution Hall, and will report back on the details later this afternoon.

We're hoping the former Veep takes questions, and especially hoping that one of those questions has to do with why the former House Speaker -- seen above doing his best to force a smile next to the current House Speaker in one of those ubiquitous couch ads -- is still allowed to promote Gore's We Campaign.

We ask because ever since deciding not to run for president, Newt Gingrich has been busy with a group of his own -- American Solutions for Winning the Future -- of which he is chairman. The group's slogan is "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less," which is not a talking point you'll find anywhere on the We Campaign's site. The mission of American Solutions is to "urge Congress to act immediately to lower gas prices by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves ..." Not surprisingly, as the Alaskan Wilderness League discovered, the group is funded almost entirely by Big Oil interests.

So what we have here is a disconnect. When Newt smiles at Pelosi and says in the We Campaign ad that "our country must take action to address climate change," we're pretty sure that American Solutions isn't what the group had in mind when they asked Gingrich to take part in one of these odd couple commercials.

In his New York Times blog, Andy Revkin wonders this morning whether he gave Gingrich too much credit: "I gave the former (and future?) politician the benefit of the doubt last year when I covered his call for conservatives to moderate their approach to the environment. Joe Romm (and others) excoriated me (and others) for not recognizing a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Is Mr. Gingrich proving them right?"

Word is that Gore will challenge the nation this morning to produce every kilowatt of electricity through alternative energy sources within 10 years. He will not challenge Americans to drill wherever it is possible. In other words, it might be time to delete some of the promotional material from the We Campaign site.