Will the Real Joe the Plumber Please Stand Up?

Andrea Chalupa reports: Since last night's presidential debate, the Web's been abuzz with Joe the Plumber. So much so that some real and wannabe Joes are moving quick to capitalize on the sudden fame of Joe Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio.  

There's Joe Francis, a plumber in Amarillo, Texas, who owns the domain JoeThePlumber.com. Francis says his phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from reporters, radio stations, and the curious. He's also been offered hundreds of thousands of dollars for his domain. And yes, he's planning to sell and cash out soon.

"It was kind of cool, but I didn't expect all this... We're just kind of a small company in Amarillo," he told Silicon Alley Insider.

And what fad wouldn't be complete without t-shirts. Spreadshirt.com is selling "I Heart Joe the Plumber," "McCain Plumber 2008," and "I am Joe the Plumber" t-shirts for $12 to $16.99.

Wurzelbacher's fame is also being used to bring attention to causes.

Last night someone started a Facebook fan page dedicated to Wurzelbacher. It has 1,448 fans and eight pages of comments since last night's debate. Commenters call on Joe to fix their pipes to recruiting him to be a spokesman.

There's also JoeThePlumberBlog.com started last night. It's written in the first-person as though it's coming from Wurzelbacher.

"I was addressed by both presidential candidates during the Presidential debate, but before I disclose my answer of which candidate won me over, I would like to bring up another issue for them to address with major concern."

That other issue seems to be advancing the claims in the conspiracy movie Zeitgeist. The blog's single post is an embedded video clip about the impending North American Union that it claims is on its way. So it looks like people from all walks of life are trying to ride Wurzelbacher's coattails.

With Joe the Plumber hitting number seven on Google's overall Web search trends, now seems the time for these wannabe Joes have to capitalize on the real deal. But will they all be able to monetize their efforts?

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