'Joe the Plumber' takes to stage, page

— -- "Joe the Plumber" is soon to become "Joe the Author" and perhaps — though he's skeptical — "Joe the Singer."

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, the "Joe the Plumber" who Republican presidential nominee John McCain says is a symbol of "real" America, now has a team of advisers that includes country singer Aaron Tippin.

Wurzelbacher said by phone Wednesday after an Ohio campaign event with Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin that he plans to "keep speaking for middle-class America."

He'll do that with a book he said will be published "in a couple of weeks." He's working with a writer and said it will be a "dignified" story of how his campaign-trail encounter with Democratic nominee Barack Obama brought Wurzelbacher national attention. He'll also expound on what he thinks about the world today.

Why should anyone listen? "I speak straight."

"There's something magnetic about Joe the Plumber," Tippin said by phone, also from Ohio. Tippin introduced Wurzelbacher to his manager and publicist, Bobby Roberts and Jim Della Croce. The three are now advising Wurzelbacher; for now at no charge. They've also suggested Wurzelbacher might want to get into the music business. "He actually can sing," said Della Croce.

Wurzelbacher isn't sure: "They talked about throwing me into the studio. I think we're going to have a good laugh, and that will be it."