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Toledo
Blade...
GOP
says Joe the Plumber may challenge
Kaptur in ‘12
By Tony Cook
8/24/11
Joe
Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe
the Plumber, is considering a run against U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in
2012,
according to Republican Party sources.
Jon
Stainbrook, chairman of the Lucas
County Republican Party, said there is “high-level interest in the
national
Republican Party” in a potential Wurzelbacher candidacy.
“We
are encouraging Joe to run,” Mr.
Stainbrook said. “He hasn’t made any official decision yet.”
Chris
Maloney, spokesman for the Ohio
Republican Party, said a candidate like Mr. Wurzelbacher would have
strong
fund-raising capabilities thanks to national recognition he received
during the
2008 presidential campaign, but added such star power would have to be
weighed
against the advantages of experience that someone like a state
legislator could
bring to the race.
Mr.
Wurzelbacher wouldn’t confirm or
deny a congressional run. “I think it’s a very interesting idea,” he
said Tuesday.
“That’s as much as I can say.”
One
GOP source put the chances of Mr.
Wurzelbacher running against Miss Kaptur at “90 percent.”
Miss
Kaptur (D., Toledo) has
represented Ohio’s 9th congressional district since 1983. She won with
59
percent of the vote in 2010 and her district voted heavily in favor of
President Obama in 2008, but congressional redistricting later this
year could
shake up the district’s political demographics.
A
challenge from Mr. Wurzelbacher is
“definitely something we would take seriously,” said Steve Fought,
spokesman
for Miss Kaptur.
Some
Republicans feel Mr. Wurzelbacher
could give Miss Kaptur one of the strongest challenges she has faced in
recent
years.
“He
would make a fantastic candidate,”
Mr. Stainbrook said. “He goes hunting with Sarah Palin. He’s friends
with Ann
Coulter. He’s got the ability to raise the money if he makes a decision
to jump
into the race.”
Mr.
Wurzelbacher gained nationwide
fame when Mr. Obama made an unscheduled campaign stop in Springfield
Township.
Mr. Wurzelbacher questioned the candidate about his small business tax
policy,
prompting Mr. Obama to say he wanted to “spread the wealth.” That
widely
reported encounter handed supporters of Republican John McCain a
rhetorical
club they used throughout the campaign.
Since
then, Mr. Wurzelbacher has been
a frequently requested public speaker. More recently, he said he’s been
heavily
involved with a veterans organization called Alaska’s Healing Hearts,
which
provides outdoor programs such as hunting and fishing for wounded
soldiers.
Read
it at the Toledo Blade
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