Global Swarming: Al Gore Recruits a Squad to Spread 'Truth'

It's hard trying to save the world by yourself! So Al Gore is commissioning an army of Mini-Me's to help him do the work.

Fifty volunteers will descend on Nashville Sunday for three days of training in how to deliver the global-warming slide show that the former veep has presented around the world, captured in "An Inconvenient Truth" (now the third-highest-grossing documentary of all time).

They'll be on the front line of what organizers hope will eventually be 1,000 Gore proxies prepared to go out to community groups across the country raising the alarm about climate change.

Will they all wear earth tones? Take turns kissing Tipper onstage? Recite his crafty non-denial denial of interest in the '08 race?

Ha ha ha! But, no, seriously: Will the slide show lose its drawing power, and the impact of its message, when it's shopped around by the less famous? "There's a real power in people learning from their peers and others in their community," said Kalee Kreider , Gore's communications director. "The vice president can reach a certain number of people. This is a way for a new and different community to receive the message."

One of Gore's first-wave conscripts is Lise Van Susteren , Bethesda psychiatrist (and sister of Greta ) who applied for the program after dropping out of the Democratic primary race for Maryland's Senate seat. "I am so excited I can hardly see straight," she said. "This is something I believe in for future generations."

She doesn't know yet where she'll be expected to take her slide projector. "Wherever I can get an audience," she said, "so I can make the case to ordinary citizens who can put into office people who will turn these ideas into policy."

What Can Brown Do for You?

Sara Albert as a natural blonde in "Next Top Model," and now as a brunette.(Nigel Barker -- UPN; Elite)

So, a girl goes to L.A. seeking fame and fortune and dyes her hair . . . brown ? That's the plan of attack for Sara Albert , the willowy, naturally blond policy wonk out of Georgetown University who made the finals of "America's Next Top Model" before moving west to try making it as a cover girl.

She told us yesterday her new agents at Elite thought she'd do well as a brunette. "I've always identified as a blonde. But I figured if I could do a platinum blond mohawk" -- as she did on the reality show -- "I could do anything."

Albert, who left her job as a health policy researcher at D.C.'s Advisory Board Co. last spring, has been walking runways and auditioning for commercials, and she's landed some fashion shows that will bring her back east this fall -- a good thing, since boyfriend John Hallmark still works on the Hill for Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). Yes, she plans to watch the new season of "ANTM," which debuts tonight on the CW network. And yes, she's kinda liking life as a brunette.

"It's definitely cut down on the number of people who recognize me from 'Top Model,' " she said. "Now it's just the die-hards."

Love, Etc.

· Engaged: Pop singer Aaron Carter, 18, popped the question to girlfriend Kari Ann Peniche , 22, Saturday in Las Vegas, reports People magazine. Carter dated Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff at the same time, causing tabloid-loving teen cat fights. Peniche (who also dated Carter's older brother, Nick ) was Miss United States Teen in 2003, but was later stripped of her title after posing nude for Playboy.

· Married: Mel Gibson's daughter, Hannah, 26, to Louisiana blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 29, in a private ceremony in Malibu Saturday, according to the Shreveport Times. The actor came out of seclusion to walk his oldest of seven children and only daughter down the aisle.

Hey, Isn't That . . . ?

· Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace at Old Europe on Monday night. Rumsfeld and his wife, Joyce, hosted the dinner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Wisconsin Avenue restaurant; no word on the menu, but the party was spotted drinking beer at the kitschy German landmark.