toledoblade.com --

WEST CHESTER, Ohio — Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin rallied thousands of supporters Friday in this southwest Ohio conservative stronghold with more promises to cut taxes, create jobs, and by simply uttering the name of the party’s new blue collar hero: "Joe the Plumber."

Two days after a contentious and final presidential debate, the governor from Alaska was back in Ohio stumping for votes.

Mrs. Palin drew wild applause and cheers when she referred to Springfield Township resident Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, the man better known across the nation as Joe The Plumber who instantly became a media celebrity after John McCain mentioned him during Wednesday’s debate against Barack Obama.

"It’s a choice between a candidate who will raise your taxes, and that threatens our future, and a leader going to Washington to work for the people like Joe the Plumber, and millions like Joe the Plumber who are struggling to sustain a small business," Mrs. Palin said. "We want to cut taxes and our opponent wants to raise them."

Mrs. Palin continued on the offensive against the Democratic rivals — a tactic the McCain-Palin camp hopes will help win Ohio’s crucial 20 electoral votes. President Bush won Ohio over John Kerry in 2004 by less than 119,000 votes. President Bush took Butler County by about a 2-to-1 margin.

"And ya know, we’ve probably got to hand it to Joe, somehow he got Barack Obama to finally state his intentions," she added about Joe the Plumber. "Senator Obama said he wants to spread the wealth and he wants government to take your money and decide how to best redistribute it according to his priorities. Joe suggested that sounded a little bit like socialism. Whatever you call it, I call it bad medicine for an ailing economy and it’s what Barack Obama will do to those who want to create jobs."

At the debate, Mr. McCain cited Mr. Wurzelbacher because he told Mr. Obama during a surprise visit to his Springfield Township neighborhood Sunday that if he was ever able to make $250,000 from a plumbing business, Mr. Obama’s tax plan would hurt him. Divorce records from 2006 show at that time, Mr. Wurzelbacher was making $40,000, which would make him eligible for a tax cut under the Obama plan.

Governor Palin also accused Mr. Obama of "fuzzying up" his connections to ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It is a community organizing group accused of widespread voter registration fraud.

The group is under investigation by the FBI for voter registration fraud. Ms. Palin said that Mr. Obama earlier this year paid $800,000 to an ACORN affiliated group for campaign work.

"All of this would be a lot of baggage to drag into the oval office and Americans are entitled to answers before election day," Mrs. Palin said.

Officials for ACORN, who have said the group registered about 1.3 million young people, minorities, and low-income and working-class voters, denied allegations of concerted, widespread fraud but acknowledge that some registration workers might have turned in duplicate applications or falsified information to increase their pay.

House Republican Leader John Boehner, who is from West Chester, also took part in Friday’s rally — telling the crowd that Mr. McCain’s chances of winning the White House next month are very strong.

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