They clashed on the economy and scored points off each other on negative campaigning.

But in the end, the real star of the third and final presidential debate was neither John McCain nor Barack Obama but a small town plumber called Joe.

Joe Wurzelbacher from Toledo, Ohio, has become an unlikely media star after finding himself the focus of the debate between the two White House rivals.

He is a tradesman who has worked 12-hour shifts for years and now plans to buy his own small plumbing business. The trouble for Joe the plumber is that this would take his earnings to more than $250,000 - making him a target of Obama’s plan to tax the wealthy.

Joe pointed this out to Senator Obama as the Democratic candidate campaigned in Toledo last weekend.

At the time he had no idea that the brief conversation between plumber and Presidential candidate would go around the world, after it became the centre piece of John McCain's attacks on his rival's economic policies.

First Mr McCain reminded Barack Obama that Joe the plumber did not want to vote for him because his taxes would rise under the Democrat. Then both candidates repeatedly spoke directly to Mr Wurzelbacher, turning him into a real life version of "Joe Six Pack," the ordinary guy chasing the American dream, as they faced off in their third and final debate.

"Joe wants to buy the business that he's been in for all these years," Mr McCain said, using Mr Obama's encounter with the plumber to attack his rival over a tax plan he maintains would shackle small businesses.

"Joe wants to buy the business that he's been in for all these years.

"Worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business, but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes."

Mr Obama responded with his own version of his chat with Joe.

"What I essentially said to him was, five years ago, when you were in the position to buy your business, you needed a tax cut then.

Times Recommends

• Oprah Winfrey says goodbye to her talk show
• Focus on the big issues, not the bananas
• Václav Havel — symbol of national liberation