Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher (R) is predicting a close race between himself and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) in Ohio's unexpectedly quiet and uneventful 9th District Congressional race.
In a fundraising email to his supporters, Wurzelbacher says he'll be debating Kaptur tonight on WTVG-TV-Channel 13 in Toledo "for the final time."
By our count this is only their second joint appearance of the general election. There was a candidate's forum in Lorain Oct. 18 in which they each answered three questions but it was not really a debate. http://bit.ly/SmRF5P
Wurzelbacher passed up two previous opportunities to debate Miss Kaptur on television - a live-on-the-web debate that was planned by the Sandusky Register newspaper and a live debate in front of the Cleveland City Club.
According to Wurzelbacher, that one event made a difference.
"The first debate changed the campaign and there's one more on Friday night – but it's the only television exposure I'll receive, unless I can hear from you soon," Wurzelbacher says in his fundraising appeal.
Wurzelbacher encouraged his supporters to tune in for the debate - the online link is http://www.13abc.com/.
(Disclosure: I'll be one of the journalist panelists on the debate)
"Hope you get a chance to watch – it should be lively, to say the least. You know me…," Wurzelbacher says.
"With less than two weeks to go, we have the momentum. This race is extremely tight and it's going to come down to which side can turn out the voters," Wurzelbacher says in the fundraising appeal.
Steve Katich, a spokesman for Kaptur, said, "this is an appeal to people out of state who aren't paying attention, it's an appeal to his tea party supporters so he can get one more paycheck."
Wurzelbacher's most recent campaign finance report raised doubts about whether he'll be able to pay himself for October. He ended September with $7,974 in his campaign account and reported that he owed a Detroit lawyer about $7,000. Since then, Wurzelbacher has updated his report with the Federal Election Commission to report that the debt was paid off and he still had $6,201 in his account as of Oct. 17.
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