The final face-to-face clash between the two fierce White House rivals granted an unexpected 15 minutes of fame to Mr Joe Wurzelbache (pronounced whur-zell-BAHK-er), an Ohio man looking to buy a plumbing business.

Until Sunday, when he bumped into Mr Obama while the Democratic presidential candidate was doing some door-to-door canvassing, Mr Wurzelbacher was living a normal life, unknown to most of his fellow Americans.

But his encounter with Mr Obama in Toledo, Ohio, and a spirited debate about the front-running Democrat's tax policy, turned him into a media star.

Both candidates spoke directly to Mr Wurzelbacher, turning him into a real life version of 'Joe Six Pack', the ordinary guy chasing the American dream, as they faced off in their third and final debate.

'Joe wants to buy the business that he's been in for all these years,' Mr McCain said, using Mr Obama's encounter with the plumber to flay his rival over a tax plan he maintains would shackle small businesses.

'Worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business, but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes.'

'You were going to put him in a higher tax bracket which was going to increase his taxes, which was going to cause him not to be able to employ people, which Joe was trying to realise the American dream,' Mr McCain said.

He then looked directly into the television camera and said: 'Joe, I want to tell you, I'll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and I'll keep your taxes low and I'll provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees. And I will not stand for a tax increase on small business income.'

Mr Obama hit back, with his version of his chat with Joe.

'What I essentially said to him was, five years ago, when you were in the position to buy your business, you needed a tax cut then.

'And what I want to do is to make sure that the plumber, the nurse, the firefighter, the teacher, the young entrepreneur who doesn't yet have money, I want to give them a tax break now.'

Mr Wurzelbacher came up again when the debate turned to a discussion of health care policies. Mr McCain charged that Mr Obama's plan would fine the company Mr Wurzelbacher wanted to buy; Mr Obama said small businesses were exempt.

Addressing 'my old buddy Joe,' Mr McCain said on Wednesday that if he becomes president, he wanted to give every US family 'a 5,000 dollar refundable tax credit' to be applied against health care.

'Senator Obama wants government to do the job. I want, Joe, you to do the job. I want to leave money in your pocket. I want you to be able to choose the health care for you and your family.'

Turning to Mr Obama, Mr McCain added: 'What Joe wanted to do was buy the business he's been working at for 10, 12 hours a day, seven days a week. You said you wanted to spread the wealth - in other words, take Joe's money and decide what to do with it.

'Hey, Joe, you're rich,' he said. 'Congratulations.'

Mr Wurzelbacher has emerged as a hero of the conservative talk radio community for his debate with Mr Obama. The plumber told Mr Obama that his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that currently employs him.

He was asked about the conversation during an interview on Fox News on Tuesday.

'Robin Hood stole from greedy rich people and redistributed it to the peasants, so to speak, so if he's calling us peasants, I kind of resent that,' Mr Wurzelbacher said.

He added that the American dream for him was 'you work hard. You're going to get what you want eventually ... I just resent the government or Barack Obama's plan to take more away from me.'

So what did Mr Wurzelbacher think about becoming the centre of the debate?

'It's pretty surreal, man, my name being mentioned in a presidential campaign,' he said minutes after hearing Mr McCain utter his name.

Mr Wurzelbacher also said Mr Obama's reaction left him feeling uneasy.

'I didn't think much of it the first time I heard it,' and added that he still thinks Mr Obama's plan would keep him from buying the business.

About Mr McCain: He's got it right as far as I go.'

Even so, Mr Wurzelbacher declined to say which candidate would get his vote on Nov 4.

'That's for me and a button to know,' he said. -- AP