Joe the Plumber: I'm running (Politico)

The 2008 presidential campaign media sensation known as ?Joe the Plumber? announced Tuesday evening in a Hungarian restaurant in Toledo, Ohio, that he is running for Congress.

Samuel ?Joe the Plumber? Wurzelbacher said he will make the bid as a Republican in Ohio?s 9th Congressional District, a seat that currently being contested by Democrats Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) due to redistricting.

Continue Reading

Joe the plumber announces run

?Politicians keep playing politics with our lives. I?m sick and tired of it. I thought long and hard about running and why I would do it,? said Wurzelbacher, according to a video of his announcement on YouTube. ?I?m not the kind of plumber who uses duct tape.?

The newly announced candidate said he intends to harness the fame that came his way after the media captured him confronting then-candidate Barack Obama on the 2008 presidential campaign trail.

?Going around the country for the last three years, there are a lot of people who would make great statesmen, ? but unfortunately they don?t have the name recognition, but they can?t get the money,? Wurzelbacher said.

Wurzelbacher said he is reluctantly running as Republican because he would otherwise not stand a chance of winning, but that his party affiliation did not encompass who he was as a candidate.

?I?m running as a Republican, but by God, that doesn?t encompass who I am, because I want to represent all Americans,? Wurzelbacher said. ?I am going to run, because I?ve been there. I know how it is to live paycheck to paycheck. I?ve done that for most of my life, and I?m doing it now.?

Wurzelbacher emphasized that his apolitical background would be an advantage.

?That?s what people in the trades do, we fix things,? Wurzelbacher said on MSNBC on Wednesday. ?I make things whole. Politicians for the most part seem to get into the game to live off the American people?s backs. And it?s just not right.?

The candidate said that politicians had turned Americans against one another.

?In the last 40 years, look at what the Republicans and Democrats have brought us to. There?s more hate and division in this country than you can shake a stick at, and it?s done through the media and through our politicians pitting us Americans against each other,? he said.

Wurzelbacher became an overnight sensation after he confronted Barack Obama on the campaign trail in 2008, and was subsequently mentioned several times by Republican presidential nominee John McCain in a presidential debate.

The race will be closely watched, not just because ?Joe the Plumber? is running there, but also because Kaptur will face a challenge as Kucinich is expected to compete against her in the primary due to the loss of his seat in redistricting.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1011_66890_html/43395317/SIG=11mvqjkp0/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66890.html

weather colorado springs surrogates surrogates daylight savings time chaz bono denver weather john wayne gacy