Obama Launches Own 'Joe The Plumber' Robocall

Barack Obama's campaign is trotting out its own "Joe the Plumber" to counteract efforts by John McCain to make inroads on the white working class vote.

A reader in Colorado sends over word that the state Democratic Party and the Obama camp are blasting out robocalls from "Joe Martinez," a plumber in Colorado who vouches for the Illinois Democrat's tax plan.

A spokesman for the Colorado Democratic Party confirmed the robocall and said he would try to track down audio. The rough script goes like this:

"...During this week's debate, Barack Obama talked about cutting taxes for middle class families like mine, lowering health care costs for everyone and bringing the change we need in Washington. John McCain ignored the issues and used the debate to launch false attacks against Barack Obama. In fact, McCain - for the third debate in a row - didn't even say the words 'middle class'. So, take it from Joe the plumber, if you want a president who will put middle class families first - join me in voting for Barack Obama. Paid for by the Colorado Democratic Party...."

The calls are noticeably positive in message compared to those currently being made by the RNC and McCain camp tying Obama to former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers. They also reflect the Obama campaign ethos, which dictates that they compete with their opposition on every political front: even if it means matching an opposition plumber with a plumber of your own.

As always, if you receive any notable calls, mailers, etc., please let us know.

UPDATE: A reader in Colorado sends over the audio, which you can listen to here.

Here is the transcript:

Hi, my name is Joe Martinez and I am a plumber for Denver, Colorado, calling for Barack Obama's campaign for change. During this week's debate, Barack Obama talked about cutting taxes for middle class families like mine, lowering the health care costs of everyone, and bringing the change we need in Washington. John McCain ignored the issues and used the debate to launch false attacks against Barack Obama. In fact, McCain for the third debate in the row didn't even say the words middle class. So take it from Joe the plumber. If you want a president who will put middle class families first, join me in voting for Barack Obama.

Comments

[Grannysue]

10:33 PM on 10/19/2008

Very good Obama campaign, and good for "the real Joe the plumber" in Colorado.

[SpeakFreely]

08:07 PM on 10/19/2008

If experience is what you want in a president then neither Obama or McCain are the most qualified.

George W. Bush has more experience as president than either man. Would you vote for 4 more years of George W. Bush???

[ChicagoSuz]

05:30 PM on 10/19/2008

I think McCain should be forced to make good on his 'contract' with his Joe the Plumber & actually use this unlicensed­, non-union plumber to work on his 7 homes. It'll serve him right... you get what you pay for...

[doctordoubt]

05:35 PM on 10/19/2008

Job security for Joe

[labman]

05:01 PM on 10/19/2008

Remember what happened when Nixon used some "plumbers"­?

[old lady]

03:29 PM on 10/19/2008

Every 72 year old male needs a plumber - ask any urologist

[CammyV]

02:20 PM on 10/19/2008

McCain needs to call a plumber...­he's watching his political aspiration­s circling the drain.

[fdavidm]

01:57 PM on 10/19/2008

I think Obama should do a TV ad with many Joe the Plumbers all saying that they endorse Obama because his tax plan would lower their taxes. That would take the steam right out of McCain's phoney strategy.

[Dr Scott]

02:08 PM on 10/19/2008

And you have to appreciate the fact that "Joe" did not talk about questionab­le associatio­ns that McCain had with nefarious characters in his past or any other personal aspect of McCain. This is the the way campaigns should be run.

[cagney57]

01:51 PM on 10/19/2008

McCain's own statement:­"You know things will change, because I have been fighting for change in Washington my whole career. I've been fighting for you my whole life, and that is what I will do as president of the United States."

__________­__________­__________­__________

John, if you have been fighting for me your whole career, then why am I worse off after 8 years?
Why after 8 years have we lost thousands of jobs?
Why after 8 years have you voted against raising minimum wage for the people you say you now want their vote?

You say Country First, which country, yours?
Where rich continue to get rich while the little man works his butt off (if he can find a job) and keeps the rich, richer?

We are not peons and you are not a king!

I want the wealth to be shared and to me the wealth means an equal share of good jobs, a nice home and the ability to retire.
You and the Republican­s idea of sharing the wealth, is us working while you get tax breaks and hope that it trickles down to a few.
We middle class and below give life blood so that those above us can have the best.
We are the ones who are "COUNTRY FIRST" and we will fight for HER!

Obama/Bide­n '08

[ponderonit101]

02:11 PM on 10/19/2008

Share the wealth means opportunit­y for all of us instead of more luxuries and parties for
the "FAT CATS OF WALL STREET"!!!

[PALinda]

07:57 PM on 10/19/2008

Cagney:: "McCain's own statement:­"You know things will change, because I have been fighting for change in Washington my whole career. I've been fighting for you my whole life, and that is what I will do as president of the United States."

So, how's that been workin' for ya, McCain? ... I don't see too much change except for the right-wing swingin' farther right ... so now you want us to give you a bigger podium? Hmmm. I think not.

[Spesabsquemetu]

01:10 PM on 10/19/2008

I WONDER IF CNN WILL GIVE TEN UNINTERRUP­TED MINUTES OF AIR TIME TO OBAMA-JOE?

GO, OBAMA-JOE!­!!

[Whatashame]

01:06 PM on 10/19/2008

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

I agree with you. Now is the time to go out and vote. As Hillary said don't look back, if you hear them coming run forward don't look back. Now is the time to get out the vote. Early voting started in many states.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

I agree with you. Now is the time to go out and vote. As Hillary said don't look back, if you hear them coming run forward don't look back. Now is the time to get out the vote. Early voting started in many states.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

I agree with you. Now is the time to go out and vote. As Hillary said don't look back, if you hear them coming run forward don't look back. Now is the time to get out the vote. Early voting started in many states.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

[Pammy1151]

12:49 PM on 10/19/2008

In its coverage of Joe the Plumber, the press keeps misreprese­nting Obama’s tax position.



When people talk about $250,000, they (even Keith Olbermann) speak about gross receipts. But gross receipts are always much higher than taxable income. Taxable income is what’s left after all business expenses.



For example, suppose Joe the Plumber earned $2,000,000 in gross receipts. He then deducts the cost of his truck, gas, pipes and toilets, tools, advertisin­g, employee expenses (salary plus fringe), office supplies, sales taxes and state taxes, etc. After all of his costs are taken out, how much does he have left. If THAT is less than $250,000, Obama doesn’t raise his taxes. I don’t have the numbers at my fingertips­, but I have looked at statistics on small businesses and my recollecti­on is that a 10% gross profit is pretty good. If we use 10% as a heuristic, Obama’s tax increases kick in for small businesses at about $2.5 million in gross receipts

[TN]

11:51 AM on 10/19/2008

McCAin and his supporters keep saying that Obama will tax people and re distribute in the form of a tax break to those who don't pay tax. That needs addressing­. If on your 1040, you didn't owe a dime in tax, didn't pay in a dime, than there is no way you ever get money back that you didn't pay in. This is bunk.

[SHOPARAZZI]

12:10 PM on 10/19/2008

mccain's tactics are traditiona­l politics and his campaign underestim­ated how much the vast majority of the electorate despise politician­s and their gutter politics. and for this, mccain will continue to lose ground and the presidency­.

[PALinda]

08:06 PM on 10/19/2008

He also underestim­ated how the electorate­'s knowledge base has changed d/t the internet.

Ten years ago, without the internet, we'd forget things that were said and done. Today, there's an ever-prese­nt running history of the campaigns, in all their glory and otherwise. Blogs and videos, newscasts and speeches ... all to be viewed as many times as desired, to remind us of our impression­s and suspicions­.

An ugly campaign looks uglier with all this repetition­.

McCain seriously underestim­ates the power of the internet to give the lie to his lies.

[LouisvilleLiberal]

12:37 PM on 10/19/2008

Well....ac­tually, it is possible to get more money than was withheld from your paycheck back if you qualify for a tax credit like the Earned Income Credit. This program was created as part of Reagan's tax reform to help out single head of households with low incomes and lots of kids because he wanted to eliminate welfare benefits that went mostly to women with children.

I assume that what McCain is saying is that rich people often have to send a check because their income comes from investment­s and the businesses they own rather than payroll checks. Thus, they apparently feel the pain more when they have to write a check as opposed to those who never see it and feel lucky to get a refund back when they file.

The fact is that most of the "tax increase" the wealthy are afraid of is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Even if McCain wins, the Democratic Congress is going to let them expire. Obama wants to renew them for people making under $200k annually and not for those with income over and expand the EIC and Child Care Tax Credit. Most of us will not see an increase or decrease in our tax burden at all to be truthful unless we are very rich or very poor.

[mnash]

12:59 PM on 10/19/2008

I thought that was a super sized slam on the poor and middle class people that John McCain said. There are mothers out there working helping to support their families who need help with daycare. But to refer to these people as "welfare" recipients is really not called for. Not everyone can be fortunate enough to have 100 million dollars and not worry where there next meal is coming from

[Wordwoman]

11:48 AM on 10/19/2008

Joe the Plumber is symbolic of the typical deluded Republican­, identifyin­g with business owners instead of noticing that he's a working stiff only making $40,000 a year. Meanwhile, the boss laughs all the way to the bank. Seems like he may be a dying breed, though.

[Dave4ObamaSinceDay1]

12:38 PM on 10/19/2008

Wordwoman, Thank you for bringing up something that all Democrats, most importantl­y Democratic Senators, House Reps, and Obama campaign surrogates­, should have been shouting from the rooftops since Lee Atwater's admission of this very point in the last days of his unethical life. Rebublican­s for years have pretended to be the friends of the working class yet their professed affection and defense of the so called "common people" is a cynical deception of the highest magnitude. It would serve Democrats to raise the consciousn­ess of the targets of this deception in the so-called Red States. These common folk could start here as I did and learn how they've been used: http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/L­ee_Atwater This site includes links to Atwaters own admissions via an autobiogra­phy precipitat­ed by his awareness of his imminent early death at 40.

[musicisourhigh]

11:28 AM on 10/19/2008

I'm glad that he kept it on the issues and didn't use it to just push across slander and negativity­.

Joining Colin Powell and voting for Barack Obama.

[SHOPARAZZI]

12:14 PM on 10/19/2008

"i dont know -- the jury's still out. im still unsure about who i will vote for even though the economy has flatlined, i could lose my job, house, savings, retirement account, health care, etc..." this is what swing voters are pondering.

this isn't multiple choice. this is as simple as true or false. mccain or obama.

my vote's for obama.

[ScoobyDoo269]

11:10 AM on 10/19/2008

Joe the Plumber smells like Shiite!

[SHOPARAZZI]

12:16 PM on 10/19/2008

rotflmbo! shiite is a denominati­on of islam. and yet, ur comment still makes sense.

[aege8th]

01:12 PM on 10/19/2008

Be careful! I once had a 'fatwa' against me for making a joke like that! (Seriously­!)