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Presidential Debates US elections: Joe the Plumber is latest character in presidential campaign We all needed a new character in this interminable American election, which has turned Barack Obama's hair grey and threatens to finish off John McCain completely, possibly with a rage-induced aneurysm. 460 259 TelegraphPlayer_3213928 [EMBED] Link to this video By Toby Harnden, US Editor 9:18PM BST 16 Oct 2008 Hillary is history and Bill Clinton's finger-wagging interventions have grown tiresome. And President George W Bush? President Who? So the triumphant entrance of Joe the Plumber into the political arena for the final 19 days of the 20-month race for the White House is a welcome change of subject. Joe Wurzelbacher, 34, a plumber from Holland, Ohio, was the undisputed star of the third and final presidential debate at Hofstra University, Long Island, on Wednesday night. He wasn't actually there, but he might as well have been – Mr McCain first brought up Joe in the debate and then mentioned him another 19 times and Mr Obama mentioned him six. During the debate, Mr McCain, who believed he had struck gold by bringing up Mr Wurzelbacher, was hailing "my old buddy Joe the Plumber". Related Articles * McCain thwarted as Joe the Plumber owes back taxes 17 Oct 2008 * Joe the plumber stars in McCain election advert 17 Oct 2008 * Joe the plumber stars in McCain election advert 17 Oct 2008 * Bloggers' verdict on candidates 16 Oct 2008 * US presidential debate: In quotes 16 Oct 2008 * Candidates woo Joe the Plumber 16 Oct 2008 In fact, he's never met him. It was Mr Obama who launched Joe when he met him by chance during door-to-door canvassing in Toledo, Ohio, on Tuesday and they had a polite disagreement about his tax policy, which would raise taxes for all households earning more than $250,000. Mr Wurzelbacher could be the gift Mr McCain so desperately needed – a vehicle (a pickup truck, no doubt) for his tax-cutting economic message, a way of communicating the kind of direct I-feel-your-pain populism that is his only chance of victory and setting himself apart from his rival, who helpfully described the caricature he had been given recently as "the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal". But despite the plumber's coy refusal to say who he's voting for, Mr Wurzelbacher – who, let's face it, is unlikely to be unblocking any lavatories this week – sounds like a McCain guy. He even bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr McCain's top adviser Steve Schmidt, who was as pleased as punch in the post-debate spin room with his lookalike's new role. In a pre-debate interview with a group called Family Security Matters, Mr Wurzelbacher used the "s" word – socialism –about Mr Obama and described his tax plan as "scary" and dishonest. "My American Dream was to have a house, a dog, a couple rifles, a bass boat ... You know, I was poor. My mom raised me and my brother by herself for a very long time until my dad came along. So I know what it's like to suffer. It's not like I was born with a silver spoon. Usually it was a wooden spoon and it was on my butt." By the middle of Friday morning, Mr Wurzelbacher was in the top 10 searches on Google and had already been given an honoured place in the stump speech of Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, Mr McCain's running mate. But the country's most sought-after media "get" was nowhere to be found. His mobile phone was turned off and he was said to be en route to New York for what a local news editor described darkly as a "paid interview". Journalists all over the United States were scouring Mr Wurzelbacher's past. There were conflicting reports that he was a registered Republican who voted in the party's primary and that he was not registered to vote at all. There were also reports that the plumber owes almost $1,200 in back taxes to the state of Ohio. By Friday afternoon, Mr Obama seemed to smell a rat. "How many plumbers do you kinow making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year," he asked a crowd in Londonderry, New Hampshire There's a fighting chance that before this has played out, Mr Wurzelbacher will be the Average Joe standing beside Mr McCain at his rallies. But the Republican's aides seem to know little about him and, as political figures from Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair have found out and Mr Obama might already be ruing, in the TV age you tangle with ordinary voters at your peril. The former Vietnam prisoner of war needs an electoral miracle and it could just be Joe. But Mr McCain has had enough trouble managing an Alaska governor in this most extraordinary White House race. Managing an Ohio plumber could be an even greater challenge. Mr Wurzelbacher was tossing a football to his son when Mr Obama appeared. Until then, it was the sort of staged photo opportunity that campaigns love – meeting ordinary folks, usually hand picked and pre-screened by the candidate's "advance staff". Mr Obama has been kept in cotton wool recently for fear he might make the sort of gaffe that could erode his seemingly impregnable poll lead – 14 points according to a CBS News survey. But perhaps Mr Obama was getting complacent and thought he could wing it. Whatever the reason, it was Mr Wurzelbacher's destiny. He saw the candidate, he seized his chance and he lobbed him the kind of proper question that makes advisers wince and thumb their BlackBerries nervously. For Mr Wurzelbacher, it was, as Mr Obama often tells adoring supporters, a case of: "This is your moment, this is your time..." He asked: "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" Mr Obama gave a customarily smooth and reasonable-sounding answer, which amounted to a yes if, as Mr Wurzelbacher indicated, he had a small business that had a net profit of more than $250,000 a year. Under Mr Obama's tax plan, individuals who earn more than $200,000 and households that earn more than $250,000 will pay higher taxes. "I respect the disagreement. It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, they've got a chance of success too ... when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," Mr Obama said. It was an instant YouTube classic. Spread the wealth? For many Americans, that sounds dangerously like communism. By the end of the debate, Mr Wurzelbacher had become the only voter the two candidates seemed to be addressing. "Senator Obama talks about the very, very rich. Joe, I want to tell you, I'll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and be able – and I'll keep your taxes low and I'll provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees," said Mr McCain. One of Mr Obama's closing points was: "I just described what my [health] plan is. And I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there." Joe was indeed out there. By this point he had three television satellite trucks outside his house, had been besieged by bookers for all the morning shows and was giving a phone interview to CBS anchor Katie Couric – "OK, we wanna go to Joe the Plumber ... Joe, was this a bit of a surreal experience." Mr Wurzelbacher was taking it all in this stride. In fact, the straight talk seemed to be taking a bit of a back seat already as, with all the studied poise of a professional, he unloaded a string of pithy sound bites. Forget Joe Sixpack, this is the real Ordinary Joe of 2008 – a straight-talking, shaven-headed, burly swing voter from a gritty, economically depressed Rust Belt state that is shaping up to be a key battleground once again this year. X Share & bookmark Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz What are these? * Share: Share Tweet http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/presidentiald ebates/3212059/US-elections-Joe-the-Plumber-is-latest-character-in-pres idential-campaign.html Telegraph Presidential Debates * News » * World News » * US Election 2008 » * John McCain » * Profiles » X Share & bookmark Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz What are these? 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