Joe the Plumber goes down in defeat

Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher lost his bid for a House seat to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), according to several news reports.

The 15-term lawmaker defeated the Republican in a race expected to stay in Democratic hands.

Wurzelbacher shot to fame during the 2008 presidential election after he confronted then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on the campaign trail over the candidate's tax plan. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) seized on the incident, frequently referring to Wurzelbacher as "Joe the Plumber." But his notoriety was not enough to power him to Capitol Hill.

Kaptur beat Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in the primary election to become the Democrats’ nominee in the state’s newly redrawn 9th district.