Hampstead, Oct 25: The star of Wednesday`s final presidential debate? John McCain? Barack Obama? No, Joe the Plumber.
The final face-to-face clash between the two fierce White House rivals granted an unexpected 15 minutes of fame to Joe Wurzelbacher.
Until Sunday, when he bumped into Obama while the Democratic presidential candidate was doing some door-to-door canvassing, Wurzelbacher was living a normal life, unknown to most of his fellow Americans.
But his encounter with Obama in Toledo, Ohio, and a spirited debate about the front-running Democrat`s tax policy, turned him into a media star.
Both candidates spoke directly to Wurzelbacher, turning him into a real life version of "Joe Six Pack," the ordinary guy chasing the American dream, as they faced off in their third and final debate.
"Joe wants to buy the business that he`s been in for all these years," McCain said, using Obama`s encounter with the plumber to flay his rival over a tax plan he maintains would shackle small businesses.
"Joe wants to buy the business that he`s been in for all these years.
"Worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business, but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes."
Obama says his tax plan will actually mean lower taxes for those earning less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, and hit back with his version of his chat with Joe.
"What I essentially said to him was, five years ago, when you were in the position to buy your business, you needed a tax cut then.
"And what I want to do is to make sure that the plumber, the nurse, the firefighter, the teacher, the young entrepreneur who doesn`t yet have money, I want to give them a tax break now."
Not to be outdone by the candidates, Plumber Joe got in on the act himself, granting an interview to CBS news queen Katie Couric.
Wurzelbacher said McCain did a "fine job" and said Obama did well too, though added "talk is talk."
And he said Obama had dodged around his question about taxes when they met.
"I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance ... almost as good as Sammy Davis Junior."
Wurzelbacher has emerged as a hero of the conservative talk radio community for his debate with Obama and his contention that the Obama economic plan would make him pay higher taxes and snuff out his hopes of expanding the business.
He was asked about the conversation during an interview on Fox News on Tuesday.
"Robin Hood stole from greedy rich people and redistributed it to the peasants, so to speak, so if he`s calling us peasants, I kind of resent that," Wurzelbacher said.
He added that the American dream for him was "you work hard. You`re going to get what you want eventually ... I just resent the government or Barack Obama`s plan to take more away from me."
Addressing "my old buddy Joe," McCain said Wednesday that if he becomes president, he wanted to give every US family "a 5,000 dollar refundable tax credit" to be applied against health care.
"Senator Obama wants government to do the job. I want, Joe, you to do the job. I want to leave money in your pocket. I want you to be able to choose the health care for you and your family."
Turning to Obama, McCain added: "What Joe wanted to do was buy the business he`s been working at for 10, 12 hours a day, seven days a week. You said you wanted to spread the wealth -- in other words, take Joe`s money and decide what to do with it.
"Hey, Joe, you`re rich," he said. "Congratulations."
In a local barber shop on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem, the spiritual home of the African-American community in New York City, there were loud groans at the mention of "Joe the Plumber."
Many of the crowd of 20 or so viewers had the impression that McCain was out of touch with the middle class.
"I am Joe. I`m a small business owner," said the barber shop`s owner Dennis Mitchel. "And John McCain`s wife is a millionaire. That makes him a millionaire."
Wednesday`s nationally televised debate ended with a bit of homespun advice from CBS moderator Bob Schieffer, 71, one of the most best-known anchormen in US television news.
"Go vote now," the Texas-born Schieffer quoted his mother as saying. "It will make you feel big and strong."
Bureau Report
