Plane with senator reported landing gear problems

Lott was on his way to a campaign event in Missouri.

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COLUMBIA, Missouri (CNN) -- A plane taking a U.S. senator to a Missouri campaign event had to stop in Alabama after landing gear problems were reported, Republican officials said Tuesday.

The incident took place Monday afternoon on a plane carrying Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, said Lott's spokesman Ron Bonjean.

He was on his way to Columbia from Mississippi for an event promoting Republican Jim Talent, who is running for Senate against Sen. Jean Carnahan.

The plane was rerouted to Mobile, Alabama, where it landed safely, Bonjean said. Missouri Republican Party spokesman Scott Baker said the flight never made it to Missouri.

The incident came a few days after Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minnesota, his wife, daughter, three campaign staffers and two pilots died in a crash in Minnesota.

Carnahan was appointed to serve in place of her husband, Gov. Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash three weeks before the November 2000 election while campaigning for the U.S. Senate.

With her husband's name still on the ballot, she agreed to serve in his place should he be elected, which he was.

An earlier report released by the Missouri Republican Party that Sens. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Illinois, and Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, were on the plane with Lott was incorrect.

Fitzgerald was originally scheduled to campaign with Lott in Missouri but canceled at the last moment when he revised his schedule, Fitzgerald spokeswoman Laura Anne Miller said. A spokeswoman for Santorum said he was not on the plane.

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