Ohio's 'Joe the Plumber' gets GOP nod for Congress

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Former presidential candidate Herman Cain, right, joins Republican congressional candidate Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, on the campaign trail, Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, in Rocky River, Ohio. Wurzelbacher is facing Steve Kraus, a real estate agent from Sandusky, in the state's March 6 primary for the 9th Congressional District. (AP Photo / Tony Dejak)

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By JULIE CARR SMYTH

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio plumber thrust into national politics during the 2008 presidential campaign has won the Republican nomination in his home state as he makes a bid for Congress.

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Samuel Wurzelbacher gained the nickname "Joe the Plumber" for expressing working-class concerns about taxes to then-candidate Barack Obama during a stop to the region.

The Toledo-area plumber defeated Steve Kraus, a Sandusky real estate agent, early Wednesday to grab the GOP nomination in Ohio's 9th Congressional District.

He faces an uphill climb in the fall against veteran U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who won the Democratic primary. The newly drawn district snaking along the Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo to Cleveland tilts toward Democrats.

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