NASHVILLE (Tennessee), Oct 31: Like all good celebrities, Joe the Plumber — the unofficial star of the last presidential debate — has hired a publicity team.

The press office in Nashville, where clients include rockers Grand Funk Railroad and Eddie Money, will help him handle the flood of interview and appearance requests that have poured in since he became famous after John McCain and Barack Obama repeatedly mentioned him during their Oct 15 debate.

’’It’s like any other celebrity who is in the public eye,’’ said Jim Della Croce, who owns the agency. ‘’There needs to be someone acting as a clearinghouse and interpreting the opportunities and coordinating the media requests, and he truly is being inundated.’’

Despite rumours to the contrary, he’s not planning to release an album, though a book is in the works.

’’He’s not doing a country record,’’ Della Croce said flatly on Thursday. ‘’I think that was an angle that was presumptuous.’’

Joe the Plumber, whose real name is Samuel J. ‘’Joe’’ Wurzelbacher, gained national attention some weeks ago when Obama told the 34-year-old during a campaign stop in Ohio that he wanted to ‘’spread the wealth around.’’

Their exchange about Obama’s tax plan aired countless times on cable news programmes. McCain repeatedly cited Joe the Plumber in a debate, saying Obama’s plan would hurt people like him who want to own their own businesses.

Wurzelbacher campaigned for the Republican ticket on his own bus tour around Ohio this week and appeared with Sarah Palin on Wednesday. His name comes up at just about every Republican rally.

But with the election next week, what’s next?

A lot of things are too premature to talk about, Della Croce said, but a book is already planned.

’’Certainly Joe will go down in history and will be a celebrity regardless of which way the election turns,’’ Della Croce said.

—AP