USA, Plumber Joe of 2008 campaign dies aged 49

(ANSA) – New York, August 28 – Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, a Midwestern plumber known by the nickname ‘Joe the Plumber’ as a metaphor for the American middle class ‘everyman’ during the 2008 election campaign, has died. Cancer at age 49 at his home in Campbellsport, a hundred miles north of Milwaukee. Worzelbacher is notable for coming face-to-face with then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama during a campaign stop for the then-Illinois senator in Toledo, Ohio. In front of the cameras, the plumber protested Obama’s plan to raise taxes on small businesses, saying it would prevent him from buying a plumbing company that earns $250,000 a year. Three days later ‘Joe the Plumber’ was adopted by Obama’s rival, Senator John McCain, becoming a fixture in the final stages of the race for the White House. After McCain’s defeat, Plumber entered the ranks of the ‘Tea Party’ by failing to win a seat in Ohio: his message of defending the aspirations of white America forgotten by Washington paved the way for populism. Donald Trump’s. (handle).