User:Pipejetter/Joelaratheplumber

Joe Lara(born 1959 in San Jose, California) a sometimes competitive Power Lifter, is a Professional Plumber, who is licensed by the State of California as Joe the Plumber. During the Presidential Debates last October, (2008), Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, who was tagged with the name Joe the Plumber, was put in the limelight, due to his name being mentioned over 20 times during the third debate.

Many other plumbers, like Joe Lara above, also named Joe the Plumber, received heavy traffic to their websites since Samuel Wurzlebacher did not have a website at that time. People around the country, hungry for information on Joe the Plumber were flooding other Joe the Plumber sites hoping to find him. Joe Lara's website www.joelaratheplumber.com received over 170,000 hits in the four days following the debate. Lara also received numerous television and radio interviews, magazine and other print media articles, and appeared twice on the front page of the Ventura County Star. He also received hundreds of "nasty" e-mails and telephone calls and even death threats in that same 4 day period. All this attention was due to people mistaking Joe Lara for Samuel Wurzelbacher. Lara still continues to receive heavy traffic to his website, which, as of May 15, has well over 359,000 hits. Prior to the debate, his website traffic was about 50 or 60 hits a month. Lara's website is ranked number one in Google, MSN and Yahoo search engines.

Each time Samuel Wurzelbacher appears in the media, joelaratheplumber.com receives a high number of hits to his site. For example, Wurzelbacher's interview with Christianity Today magazine caused Lara's website to receive an extra 2000 hits over a 2 day period. On the negative side, unknown individuals threw eggs at his work truck twice and someone, (who couldn't spell), wrote "Homofob" on his windshield. He also received several "Hate" e-mails and crank calls from people who once again mistook him for Samuel Wurzelbacher. http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6k7mw9KZrQAVe1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZWMwOTBpBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0Y2NTVfNzU-/SIG=136hbcjrr/EXP=1242623163/**http%3a//www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3ff=/n/a/2008/10/17/state/n115437D74.DTL http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6k7mw9KZrQAV.1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEycjZucjcxBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNARjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0Y2NTVfNzU-/SIG=13cdh5ieg/EXP=1242623163/**http%3a//www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/oct/17/meet-our-joe-the-plumber/%3fprinter=1/ http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6k7mw9KZrQAW.1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybmxlMGE2BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNgRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0Y2NTVfNzU-/SIG=122sr5flr/EXP=1242623163/**http%3a//www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10747336 http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6k7mw9KZrQAY.1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzMWdnNGMzBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMTAEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=12vq82b83/EXP=1242623163/**http%3a//www.gelfmagazine.com/gelflog/archives/your_name_here_the_plumber.php http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu.oWnA9KVRsBRAdXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzOWVxMHVlBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMTMEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=12g8rtg5p/EXP=1242623382/**http%3a//www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do%3fdiaryId=7122 http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu.oWnA9KVRsBUAdXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzMnNqajlkBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMTkEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=11pvdtv5p/EXP=1242623382/**http%3a//www.kcbs.com/pages/3158431.php http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu49ynA9K5jwBoxVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzajAxamxmBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMjMEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=12a7i6a9i/EXP=1242623474/**http%3a//www.glennburks.com/blogs/glenn/poor-joe-plumber http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu8yznA9KXAIBhOZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzcm5qOGE5BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMzEEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=12mnplnsa/EXP=1242623539/**http%3a//www.gelfmagazine.com/gelflog/archives/politics.php%3fpage=2 http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu8yznA9KXAIBluZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzdTQzNzkzBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNDAEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=13armtepv/EXP=1242623539/**http%3a//www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2008Oct18/0,4675,MoreJoePlumbers,00.html http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu9rvnA9K4HEBMdtXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzaTQ4c3JyBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNDYEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=12334c7gn/EXP=1242623599/**http%3a//abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory%3fid=6063347 http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6MdnQ9KvFoBuyxXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzOWRxMDZhBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNTYEY29sbwNhYzIEdnRpZANGNjU1Xzc1/SIG=12969t00c/EXP=1242623645/**http%3a//www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/%3fid=6367 http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu6CtnQ9K1DIAC4pXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyZWMwOTBpBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0Y2NTVfNzU-/SIG=12d8uqci0/EXP=1242623789/**http%3a//www.reevesjournal.com/CDA/Archives%3fissue=1864062 https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicense/LicenseDetail.asp