The moment I saw my brother’s text message last night, I suspected that we had the latest media sensation on our hands.

“Joe the plumber making waves in debate,” Andy wrote.

At first, I thought some guy named Joe had commandeered a microphone at last night’s third and final Presidential Debate and blasted Barack Obama or John McCain, or both. Instead, as I later learned, McCain had simply referred to this fellow named Joe, oh, about 4,000 times. “Joe the plumber” became a mantra as McCain sought to connect with the nation’s beleaguered middle-class.

Now comes news that Joe is not actually a licensed plumber. Horrors! What next?

Of course, that’s just one detail among hundreds that have already emerged about the suddenly famous 34-year-old from the Wurzelbacher clan. Typing “Joe the plumber” into Google nets 900,000 hits, easily outdistancing “Joe sh*t the rag man,” one of my mom’s favorite expressions.

Mark my words: in 2012, 2016, 2020, and every four years thereafter, Joe the Plumber (the “p” will be capitalized by then) will be sought out for his views of that year’s Presidential race. That is, if the Ohio man can live through all the nutty media scrutiny.

By the way, a certain Amarillo, Texas plumber with a fortunately named website and a hilarious Dan Aykroyd-in-Saturday Night Life style illustration on the home page is bound to see an uptick in business.

And a certain Houston plumber must be getting some increased web traffic, too.

Can a “Joe the Plumber” political party be far behind?

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