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Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, famous for arguing with Barack Obama on the campaign trail, died of pancreatic cancer

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who shot to brief fame during the 2008 US presidential election as “Joe the Plumber”, has died aged 49. Cause of death was pancreatic cancer, his wife, Katie Wurzelbacher, told news outlets.

Fifteen years ago, Wurzelbacher became famous after arguing with the then Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, on the campaign trail in Toledo, Ohio. Wurzelbacher asked Obama if he would pay more taxes if the Democrat won. Obama, then a US senator from Illinois, conceded that he might.

Wurzelbacher then told Family Security Matters, a rightwing group: “Initially, I started off asking him if he believed in the American dream and he said yes, he does – and then I proceeded to ask him, then, why he’s penalising me for trying to fulfill it.”

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Obama won – and Wurzelbacher’s brush with fame soured with revelations that he was both not a fully licensed plumber and owed more than $1,000 in taxes.

(The rest of the article is omitted - but it makes for an interesting read!)