Laura A. Bischoff — HANOVERTON — At McCain rallies, the crowds start shouting his name even before he takes the stage. They wear T-shirts saying they're like him. They go wild when he takes the mic on stage.

No, it's not Republican John McCain. It's Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher that people are lovin'.

Even McCain loves him.

At a recent Ohio campaign stop, the Republican presidential nominee introduced Wurzelbacher, who owes back taxes, as "an American hero and a great citizen of Ohio and my role model and the man I'm fighting for and small businesses all over America like him."

Earlier this month, Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio, talked tax policy with Democrat Barack Obama when Obama said people making more than $250,000 would be taxed more to "spread the wealth."

The McCain campaign pounced on it, produced a TV ad, brought Wurzelbacher on the campaign trail, and created a Joe the Plumber symbol. State officials are investigating why law enforcement computers were used to do background checks on Wurzelbacher after he got his 15-minutes of fame and then some.

Wurzelbacher, who told Obama he wants to buy a plumbing business, is getting so much attention he had to hire a publicist.

"What Joe the Plumber represents is the notion that in this country you can aspire to ownership, that you work hard, take risks, you get your piece of the rock," said Steve Schmidt, senior McCain campaign advisor. "We're not a country that has ever grown the economy by the notion of redistributing the wealth or people's income, where the government decides what people have to pay for other people. And he crystallized, in an exchange in a driveway, in a very direct way an essential argument about taxes that we're making in this race."

Obama has said McCain is more focused on Joe the CEO that Joe the Plumber and that under his plan people making less than $250,000 a year would not see their taxes increase.

Later today, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will join McCain for a rally in Columbus.