The security was in place.
The greeting party was all there.
The only thing missing was the guest of honor: U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
He was at the wrong airport.
For reasons that still are unclear, Ashcroft's jet landed at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base southeast of Columbus last week when the attorney general flew in for a speech before a crime-victims conference Downtown. Everyone else was waiting for him at Port Columbus, so Ashcroft's plane immediately headed there.
"It was a touch-and-go landing," one source said. "They said, 'Tell the FBI we've arrived,' and they replied, 'No, you haven't.' "
Guests at Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery's crime-victims assistance conference wondered -- but were never told -- why Ashcroft was running more than 30 minutes late for his keynote speech.
Ashcroft's office did not return calls seeking an explanation for the mixup.
-- Jon Craig -- Yoshie
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