Wurzelbacher told the Associated Press: "It's pretty surreal, man, my name being mentioned in a presidential campaign."
It was unclear whether the McCain campaign had been in touch with him. However, in a post-debate interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Wurzelbacher echoed familiar McCain themes. He said that Obama is well-spoken but that "there's got to be some action behind it."
Wurzelbacher told Couric that he had always wanted to question a presidential candidate "and really corner them and get them to answer a question of -- for once instead of tap-dancing around it. And, unfortunately, I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance . . . almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr."
Still, he refused to say which candidate he would vote for.
Spinners of all stripes invoked America's newly minted folk hero.
"There are a lot of 'Joe the Plumbers' out there, but the 'Joe the Plumbers' are going to get hosed by the McCain economic policies," said Obama campaign manager David Axelrod.
McCain's economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin countered: "This is a real American, who actually now understands exactly what Barack Obama is up to, and he's appalled."
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robin.abcarian@latimes.com
Times staff writers James Rainey and Maeve Reston contributed to this report.
