Ohio man Joe the Plumber aims to be a working-class hero
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, more commonly known as “Joe the Plumber,” will be running for Congress 2012, the Huffington Post reports. Along with his statement of candidacy, the Joe For Congress 2012 committee filed a statement of organization, using Wurzelbacher’s home address for their paperwork.
In 2008, Wurzelbacher famously questioned and objected to then-candidate Barack Obama’s small business tax policy while Obama made a campaign stop in Wurzelbacher’s Ohio town. The McCain/Palin campaign quickly conceptualized “Joe the Plumber,” referring to him as a symbol of middle-class Americans and using him as an example of the working-class that would be hurt by Obama’s policies. He has since published a book and toured as a motivational speaker, but is still aiming to extend his time in the public eye.
In August, a local paper questioned if Wurzelbacher had any interest in Congress, to which he replied, “I think it’s a very interesting idea…that’s as much as I can say.” Wurzelbacher’s opponents will include incumbent Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich, along with Republicans Rob Frost and technology executive Tom Guarente. But the mainly Democratic district is likely to favor whoever wins the Democratic primary in the general election.
Read more about “Joe the Plumber” here.
