Wurzelbacher also divulged that the McCain campaign had contacted him several days before the debate and asked him to appear at the Toledo rally. A campaign aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Wurzelbacher had been invited.
The aide said the campaign did not vet Wurzelbacher and didn't see the need. "We did not look into his background, because millions of Americans will see a tax increase under Barack Obama, and we do not have time or interest in vetting all of them," the aide said.
The saga of Joe the Plumber began Sunday, when Obama campaigned on Shrewsbury Street in Holland, Ohio. One of the voters he encountered was Wurzelbacher, who said he was about to buy a plumbing business worth $250,000 to $280,000 a year.
"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" asked Wurzelbacher.
Obama replied that his plan would raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year. "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," said Obama.
During Wednesday's debate, McCain first mentioned the plumber, whose name then came up 25 more times in 90 minutes. At one point, McCain looked directly into the camera and made this promise: "Joe, I want to tell you, I'll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for. . . . I'll keep your taxes low and I'll provide available and affordable healthcare for you and your employees."
At a rally in Londonderry, N.H., on Thursday, Obama said McCain was disingenuous to suggest his tax policies would help people like Wurzelbacher. McCain, he said, "is trying to suggest a plumber is the guy he's fighting for. How many plumbers you know making a quarter-million dollars a year?"
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said it was "an outrage" that the media were "attacking" Wurzelbacher, and accused the Obama campaign of being involved. "Instead of answering tough questions, his campaign attacks average Americans for daring to look at the reality behind his words," Bounds said.
Wurzelbacher told reporters that he was hoping to buy the business he works for, Newell Plumbing & Heating in nearby Toledo. He said he had worked for the two-man shop six years and had discussed taking it over from his boss, Al Newell.
