HEY! JOE! JOE? JOE? Which Joe?

TOLEDO, Ohio -

“Joe the plumber,” the new face of middle-class America after Sen. John McCain made him famous in Wednesday night’s presidential debate, isn’t technically a plumber, and he probably wouldn’t be adversely affected by Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan.

But the issues he raises are important and worth examining for their impact on small businesses.

Joe the plumber — Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, 34, of suburban Toledo, Ohio — is the first to say that he’s not the story and that no one should listen to him when it comes to tax policy.

“I just hope I’m not making too much of a fool of myself and can get some type of message out there as far as, you know, really watch actions and learn for yourself,” Wurzelbacher said Thursday outside his home. “Don’t take other people’s opinions.”

Wurzelbacher first came to attention over the weekend, when he engaged Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, in a six-minute discussion of tax policy at a rally in Holland, Ohio.

He told Obama that he was a plumber and was hoping to buy his boss’s business, which he said made $250,000 to $280,000 a year. He was concerned, he said, that Obama’s economic proposals would mean he’d be kicked into a higher tax bracket.

Wednesday night, McCain adopted Wurzelbacher as the representative of struggling middle-class Americans, addressing many of his comments directly to “Joe the plumber,” whom he misidentified as “Joe Wurzelburger.”

“The real winner last night was Joe the plumber. Joe’s the man,” McCain said Thursday at a campaign rally in Downington, Pa. “He won, and small businesses won across America. They won because Americans are not going to let Senator Obama raise taxes in a tough economy.”

‘There’s a lot I’ve got to learn’Legally speaking, Wurzelbacher isn’t a plumber, because he isn’t licensed by Toledo, Lucas County or the state of Ohio. A representative of the Toledo Building Inspection Division said a plumber must be registered with the state and only then can apply for a city plumbing contractor’s license.

Wurzelbacher said he worked under the license held by his boss, Al Newell of Newell Plumbing and Heating Co. of Toledo. Newell is a licensed plumbing contractor in Toledo, records show. But anyone working under Newell should have a journeyman’s plumbing license or an apprenticeship license, officials said.

Building Inspection officials said Newell was responsible for making sure that anyone working under him was licensed. The Toledo Plumbing Board of Control may consider sanctions against Wurzelbacher or Newell, officials told NBC affiliate WNWO of Toledo.

“There’s a lot I’ve got to learn” about the plumbing business, Wurzelbacher said Thursday.
Wurzelbacher also acknowledged that he had no specific plans for buying Newell’s business, saying he and Newell had simply talked about the idea from time to time. He might have difficulty making the purchase: Court records from his divorce show that Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.

Even if he did buy Newell Plumbing and Heating, Obama’s tax plan wouldn’t affect him. While Wurzelbacher told Obama that he would be taxed at a higher rate because the company grossed more than $250,000 a year, Ohio business records show the company’s estimated total annual revenue as only $100,000. Actual taxable income would be even less than that.

In any event, Obama’s tax plan specifies that the higher rate would apply only to income above the $250,000 threshold. Assuming Wurzelbacher’s income as owner somehow hit $280,000 — the top end of his supposition of the company’s revenue — only the extra $30,000 would be taxed at a higher rate.

Joe says Obama would be ‘hurting others’Analysts calculated that the extra tax would amount to $900, which would likely be more than offset by separate provisions of Obama’s plan: a 50 percent tax credit for health care and elimination of the capital gains tax for small businesses.

By Alex Johnson of msnbc.com and Ryan Fowler of NBC affiliate WNWO of Toledo, Ohio. Steve Handelsman, Athena Jones and Kevin Tibbles of NBC News contributed to this report.
“I’d have to look at your particular business, but you might end up paying lower taxes under my plan and my approach than under John McCain’s,” Obama told Wurzelbacher during their exchange last weekend.

At the time, Wurzelbacher replied, “Oh, yeah, I understand that.” But by Thursday, he had reconsidered.
“If you believed [Obama], I’d be receiving his tax cuts, but I don’t look at it that way,” he said. “He’d still be hurting others.”
Wurzelbacher, a registered Republican, refused to say whom he would vote for, insisting that “I want the American people to vote for who they want to vote for. I just want them to be informed when they make that vote.”

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But he hinted that his choice would be McCain, the Republican standard-bearer, whom he said it would be “an honor” to meet. Asked about other issues by a covey of curious reporters, Wurzelbacher voiced strongly Republican opinions.

“Social Security’s a joke,” he said. “I have parents. I don’t need another set of parents called the government. Let me take my money and invest it how I please.”
On immigration: “I wish our borders were closed.”
And on the war in Iraq, which McCain has strongly supported: “I’m not sorry we’re in Iraq. ... It’s made us safer. I absolutely believe that.”

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FD:
In the closing weeks of this historic election campaign, one thing has become all too clear: if your name's not Joe, neither candidate has any interest whatsoever in winning your vote.

Only Joe knows how it feels to be hurting for money; only Joe understands exactly how disastrous a course the nation is currently pursuing. Joe is tired of the last eight year of Bush rule, tired of negative campaigning, and just generally tired. But Joe isn't just Joe: he stands for many others who are not so fortunate as to be called Joe.

Joe is you and me. Joe is America. There are, however, several Joes, and sometimes it can get confusing. So here, as a public service, is what you might call an encycjoepedia. Don't thank me; thank Joe. He deserves it.

JOE THE PLUMBER: Toledo's Ur-pipefitter is one of several Joes the Plumber; see also here and here. Last night, John McCain seemed to think Joe the Plumber could fix all his election woes. And the truth is that he could, but he needs a special part that he'll have to order, which could take six weeks to arrive, by which time it'll be too late for McCain. Plus, it's gonna cost you. Maybe a bit less if you're OK to pay in cash.

JOEY DANKO: A man Joe Biden met at his local gas station the other day, who told him he never has enough money to fill up his car anymore -- or so Biden claimed in the vice-presidential debate the week before last. Widely believed to be a figment of Biden's imagination until he was woken in the early morning by the conservative talk-radio host Curtis Sliwa. Given the circumstances, it has to be said Danko responded with extraordinary good humour, explaining that he was an old friend of Biden -- hey, Joes have got to look out for each other -- and causing Sliwa's anti-Biden efforts to backfire amusingly.

JOE BIDEN: Fictional character frequently evoked in US politics as a proxy for the ordinary working-class American. 'Biden' is often described as having to work two jobs in order to make ends meet, for example by serving in the Senate and running for vice-president. Travels everywhere by train and, when he can muster a small amount of disposable income, enjoys eating out in low-budget restaurants that closed 20 years ago.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Easily irritated conservative MSNBC presenter, host of the show Morning Joe, the title of which is a clever play on words because "Joe" also means "coffee". Original title, "Good Morning Scarborough!", rejected following copyright infringement claim by Yorkshire Television.

JOE SIXPACK: Senior consultant to the vice-presidential campaign of Sarah Palin, Sixpack is a prolific beer-drinker, though he's also working on developing rock-hard abs. Married to Jane Sixpack. Not to be confused with Joe Sixpack, a Philadelphia beer columnist who supports Obama.

JOE LIEBERMAN: Connecticut senator-everyman who left the Democratic party in order to exercise his independent-spirited desire to vote with the Republicans on absolutely everything. Performs important service for Americans short on cash and losing sleep in the current economic climate by enabling them to use his speeches on C-SPAN as a free alternative to Tylenol PM. Inventor of Joementum.

BARACK JOEBAMA AND JOEHN MCCAIN: Rivals for the title of Ultimate American Everyman, though they face a difficult challenge from Bob Burns, a school maintenance supervisor from Connecticut, who isn't called Joe but is, officially, the Average American. Oh, and he's voting for Obama (scroll down). Say it ain't so, Bob!

REVEREND JOEREMIAH WRIGHT: Fiery pastor of Chicago's Trinity Church, famed for his pulpit-thumping 1992 sermon 'God Damn Joe the Plumber', delivered in a rage after discovering that he'd paid several hundred dollars for incredibly shoddy work on his boiler.