“管道工乔”走红美国大选辩论

Google's search engine was clogged with requests Thursday for information about "Joe the plumber," an obscure handyman from Ohio flushed into the limelight during the latest US presidential debate.

Searches for "Joe the plumber" ranked number seven early Thursday on Google's list of "Hot Trends," the most sought after information on the Internet, trailing such items as "Halloween candy" and "free ecards."

"Who is 'Joe the plumber'" was number one on the list of "hot searches" at AOL.com and it was all the buzz over at Yahoo Buzz, topping even curiosity about Madonna's impending divorce.

Enterprising Web surfers who skipped the search engines altogether and typed www.joetheplumber.com directly into their browser landed on the website of an Amarillo, Texas-based plumber who bills himself as the "Friendliest Plumber in Town."

The real name of “Joe the plumber” is Sam Joe Wurzelbacher and he was mentioned by the candidates more than two dozen times yesterday, after questioning Democratic candidate Barack Obama about his tax policy at a rally last week.

"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $US250,000 a year. Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" he asked Senator Obama at the time.

Republicans rejoiced, and John McCain made Joe the Plumber a theme of the third and final debate, in an attempt to woo blue collar voters.

Joe the Plumber said Thursday he doesn't have a license and doesn't need one, because he works for someone else.

本周四，“Joe the plumber”成为Google搜索引擎上的大热关键词，这位来自俄亥俄州的神秘管道工成为最后一次美国总统大选辩论上的绝对“主角”。

本周四早些时候，“Joe the plumber” 位列Google“热门趋势”搜索排行第七大最热关键词，紧随“Halloween candy”和“free ecards”之后。

此外，“谁是Joe the plumber？”成为AOL.com（美国在线）“热门搜索”榜冠军，同时在Yahoo Buzz上也是人气极高，甚至超过了麦当娜离婚。

有些心急的网友连搜索都不用了，干脆直接在地址栏里输入www.joetheplumber.com 一探究竟。而这个网站则是得克萨斯州阿马里洛市一名管道工的个人主页，他称自己是“镇上最友好的管道工”。

“Joe the plumber”的真名叫Same Joe Wurzelbacher，在昨天的大选辩论中，他被两位候选人提及二十多次。乔在上周的一次造势活动中向民主党候选人巴拉克．奥巴马提了一个有关税收政策的问题。

他说：“我打算买下一家年利润达25万美元的公司。而如果你当选了，我就要多交税，是吗？”

这可让共和党候选人约翰．麦凯恩抓住了“把柄”，在第三次辩论中，他利用“Joe the plumber”大作文章，试图赢得蓝领选民。

“Joe the plumber”于本周四称，他还没有营业执照，不过他也不需要，因为现在他给别人打工。