Joe the Plumber. Divorced father of a 13 year-old, who’s been making a living doing plumbing work. Just a normal Joe. Then he has a Life Changing Experience.

A candidate stops to talk to him for a few minutes, and suddenly, he’s a celebrity. He’s the face of the fear that taxes will be raised on Americans making over $250K, that healthcare costs on small businesses will be prohibitive. They talk about him on the candidate’s debate. Incessantly. He’s Mr Everyvoter.

Then the journalists dig into his background.

They discover he’s not licensed as a plumber, which permits him only to work in townships but not in municipalities. He understood he could operate under the license of his employer, Newell Plumbing. The business has a state license, a City of Toledo license, but not a Lucas county license. And maybe Joe needs his own license anyway.

I think. I’m confused, maybe you are too, and it looks like he was.

The person who’s not is the business manager for Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Service Mechanics. He’s just mad, because according to him, Joe the Plumber isn’t a plumber.

The journalists also find Ohio’s Income Tax authorities are looking for Joe for about $1K or unpaid taxes. Well, now they know where to find him.

I hope for his sake Joe has no skeletons in the closet, or nasty enemies, and that his divorce was amicable. Were the VP candidates this carefully vetted?

Joe’s had about a million calls from the media. To his credit, he’s been courteous, pointing out that he’s not exactly the focus of the debate. It’s the issues. And it’s probably the fifteen minutes of fame he could do without.