Al Gore still hasn't endorsed a candidate for president, most likely because he has dreams of playing broker/peacemaker at the DNC convention summer and further securing his spot as patriarch of the Democrats

But that convention scenario is looking less likely by the day -- and could be totally moot by tomorrow -- which may be why the Goracle is becoming more vocal about how the environment has been getting the short shrift among campaign issues. Over the weekend, the "remarkable people" in charge of the annual TED conference deemed the former veep and Nobel Prize winner worthy enough to speak in their midst.

In his speech, Gore criticized the minimal attention given to climate change and other environmental issues during more than 20 debates, noting as we did how several of the CNN debates were sponsored by "something with an Orwellian label" of Clean Coal.

Gore said the Alliance for Climate Protection, which he started in California, would launch a national campaign pressuring candidates to better explain their plan for addressing climate change. He gave restrained praise to current efforts by Clinton, Obama and McCain, noting that they all have shown promising "leadership" on the issue.

"We've had these brilliant presentations by physicists," Gore told the TEDsters at the end of the conference. "But in the struggle for a unified field theory, I think we have to find a unified Earth theory."