'Joe the Plumber' becomes center of debate

HOLLAND, Ohio -- It turns out "Joe the Plumber," the unexpected focus of Wednesday night's presidential debate, has a different first name and no plumber's license, owes back taxes to the state of Ohio and would likely get a tax cut under Democrat Barack Obama's plan.

As details emerged Thursday about the man Republican John McCain said would pay higher taxes under Obama's plan, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, 34, retreated inside his house after being besieged by interview requests.

Wurzelbacher lives in a small, beige ranch house in a tree-lined, working-class neighborhood outside Toledo. His street was crowded Thursday with 30 journalists from as far away as Italy and four satellite TV trucks.

Wurzelbacher conducted a round of TV interviews on morning news shows and with reporters in his driveway before he went into his house, saying he was through talking.

More details about Wurzelbacher emerged throughout the day Thursday. Ohio records show he has a lien on his home from January 2007 for failing to pay $1,182.98 in state income taxes. The lien has not been settled.

He also had to settle a lien for $1,261.37 that was placed in July 2007 by a local hospital for outstanding bills. It was lifted last October after the debt was satisfied.

Wurzelbacher said Thursday that he isn't a licensed plumber but works with a plumber.

The experience left him dazed, he said. "I'm kind of like Britney Spears having a headache. Everybody wants to know about it."

"Somebody like Britney Spears would be able to handle this because she asked for it. Joe the Plumber didn't ask for it," said Lucas County Republican chairman Jon Stainbrook, acting as a spokesman for Wurzelbacher.

Wurzelbacher was thrust into the spotlight after Obama knocked on some doors in his neighborhood during a campaign stop Sunday. Wurzelbacher chatted with Obama about the candidate's plan to raise federal taxes on couples earning more than $250,000. He said he objected to it. Obama replied, "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Wurzelbacher didn't know McCain would mention him during the debate, Stainbrook said, and has received more than 1,000 phone calls since then.

McCain touted Wurzelbacher on Thursday.

"The real winner last night was Joe the Plumber," McCain said at a rally in Pennsylvania. "Joe's the man. He won, and small businesses won across America."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said the campaign saw no reason to check out Wurzelbacher's situation before McCain brought him up in the debate.

"We don't have the time or the resources to research the background of every American who gets a tax increase under Barack Obama's economic plan," he said.

Wurzelbacher told the Associated Press he does not make more than $200,000 a year — the threshold for an individual getting a federal income tax increase under Obama's plan. But he said he still objected to Obama's thinking behind the tax hike.

"It's not right for someone to decide you made too much — that you've done too good and now we're going to take some of it back," he said.

Wurzelbacher also told The (Toledo) Blade newspaper that he has no specific plan to buy the two-man plumbing business where he works but has talked generally with owner Al Newell about someday taking it over.

"It is utterly bizarre that McCain chose this guy as the poster child, because this guy would get a tax cut under Obama, and wouldn't under McCain," says William Gale, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, which has analyzed both Obama's and McCain's tax plans.

The center is run jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two liberal Washington think tanks.

Gale said commercial business databases suggest Newell Plumbing and Heating apparently has annual sales of about $100,000. "This guy's not in any danger from Obama's tax hikes," he said.

Wurzelbacher told the AP that he doesn't need a plumber's license as long as he is working on site with Newell.

Wurzelbacher's claims angered Thomas Joseph, head of the local plumbers union.

"He makes himself out to be something other than what he is," Joseph said.

Wurzelbacher, Joseph said, applied for an apprenticeship in November 2003 but never completed his apprentice training nor applied for a license with the city of Toledo. Apprentices must complete about five years of training then pass a licensing test.

Contributing: David Jackson and Richard Wolf, reporting from Washington along with Eisler