Joe the Plumber can relate to the Britney thing

In a bid to sway voters who have doubted his ability to shepherd the economy, McCain plucked Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher out of obscurity during the final presidential debate Wednesday and assured him of an asterisk in the history of the 2008 presidential campaign.

"Joe the Plumber," said McCain, was just the kind of guy Barack Obama's tax plans would hurt and just the kind of guy his plan would help.

Turns out that is not the case. Joe the Plumber would be one of the American workers Obama says would get a tax cut under his plan. Also, Wurzelbacher is not licensed as a plumber, and the plumbers union is mad at him.

Fame comes with a price. In Wurzelbacher's case, it's about $1,182, the amount of the lien the state of Ohio has placed on his property for personal income taxes he owes.

Also, now that he's famous, he's busy. When the McCain campaign invited Wurzelbacher to attend a rally Sunday in Toledo with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, he told them that he probably couldn't make it. He'd made plans to be in New York. He'll be doing TV interviews.

McCain remains hopeful, though.

"I'm probably going to call him this morning," McCain told Fox News on Thursday. "I thought he would probably be up late. I heard that his phone lines were pretty well flooded. But I think we're going to be spending some time together."

Wurzelbacher, a 34-year-old single father of a 13-year-old boy, has been besieged by reporters since Wednesday night. They called every Joe Wurzelbacher in Ohio (listings are surprisingly numerous), camped out overnight at his house and pestered his neighbors.

Thursday, after a morning workout and a chat with reporters in his driveway, he split his time among Diane Sawyer and other national media figures. He'd already been interviewed by Katie Couric on debate night.

"I'm kind of like Britney Spears having a headache," Wurzelbacher told the journalists at his house. "Everybody wants to know about it."

He said he was surprised to hear his name mentioned so many times during the debate. "That bothered me," he said. "I wished that they had talked more about issues that are important to Americans."

Leaning against the Dodge Durango SUV parked in his driveway, Wurzelbacher said he was a conservative who would be honored to meet McCain. He acknowledged that under Obama's plan, his taxes would be cut. "But I don't look at it that way. He'd still be hurting others," he said.