Real hero of the debate - Joe the plumber

The real star of the debate was neither John McCain nor Barack Obama but a small town plumber called Joe.

The final clash between the two White House rivals granted an unexpected 15 minutes of fame to Joe Wurzelbacher from Toledo, Ohio.

When Mr Wurzelbacher met the Mr Obama as he campaigned in Toledo, the plumber told the Presidential candidate that his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that employs him.

The brief conversation has turned Joe the plumber into an international media star.

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After John McCain reminded Barack Obama that Joe the plumber did not want to vote for him because his taxes would rise under the Democrat, both candidates repeatedly spoke directly to Mr 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," Mr McCain said, using Mr Obama's encounter with the plumber to attack 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."

Mr Obama responded with his own 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."

During the encounter in Ohio, Mr Wurzelbacher had asked the Democrat:"Your new tax plan is going tax me more, isn't it?"

The Illinois senator answered: "It's not that I want to punish your success; I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you that they've got a chance to success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Two days later, invited on to Fox News to discuss the conversation, the plumber said:"His answer actually scared me even more.

"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," he said.

"He said he wants to distribute wealth.And I mean, I'm not trying to make statements here, but, I mean, that's kind of a socialist viewpoint. You know, I work for that. You know, it's my discretion who I want to give my money to, it's not the government decide that I make a little too much and so I need to share it with other people. I just -- that's not the American Dream.

He added that the American Dream for him was "you work hard. You're going to get what you want eventually."

After the debate, Mr Wurzelbacher declined to say which candidate would get his vote on November 4.

"That's for me and a button to know," he said.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4952909.ece