Samuel J. “Joe” Wurzelbacher, a self-described working man who entered the annals of politics during the 2008 presidential campaign when he challenged Democratic nominee Barack Obama on his tax plan and emerged from the exchange an avatar of the middle class, cheered and sometimes jeered as “Joe the Plumber,” died Aug. 27 at his home in Campbellsport, Wis. He was 49.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his brother, Robert Wurzelbacher.
Mr. Wurzelbacher, an Ohio native and veteran of the plumbing trade, lived outside Toledo in the community of Holland when he was catapulted to fame in the final weeks of the White House race that pitted Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, against U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee.
His oldest son, Joey Wurzelbacher, said his father died Sunday in Wisconsin after a long illness. His family announced this year on an online fundraising site that he had pancreatic cancer.
"The only thing I have to say is that he was a true patriot," Joey Wurzelbacher — whose father had the middle name Joseph and went by Joe — said in a telephone interview. "His big thing is that everyone come to God. That's what he taught me, and that's a message I hope is heard by a lot of people." “Joe the Plumber,” The one who challenged Democratic nominee Barack Obama died at 49
Their exchange and Obama's response that he wanted to "spread the wealth around" aired frequently on cable news. Soon afterward, Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, repeatedly cited "Joe the Plumber" in a presidential debate.
Wurzelbacher went on to campaign with McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but he later criticized McCain in his book and said he did not want him as the GOP presidential nominee.
As CNN reported at the time, Wurzelbacher’s name would be invoked in whole or in part more than two dozen times during the final presidential debate between Obama and then-Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee.
Wurzelbacher went on to run for the US House of Representatives in Ohio’s 9th District in 2012, clinching the Republican nomination before losing to Democrat Marcy Kaptur.
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