Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher won't be going to Washington with Sen. John McCain after all.

When the tradesman's exchange with candidate Barack Obama was posted on YouTube in September, he became the McCain campaign's Everyman. His name was invoked more than a dozen times during the final presidential debate.

Thanks to Mr. McCain's repeated use of the Ohio man as the face of his economic pitch, Mr. Wurzelbacher became a partisan prop. It didn't take long for him to go rock star on us, however, and hire an agent to float the idea of a book deal to tell his "story." Soon Joe was pontificating on foreign policy at press conferences and implying that Mr. Obama was a socialist.

But a funny thing happened on the way to stardom. Joe the Plumber's patron lost his bid for the White House. Now the plumber is just another Joe -- and he doesn't even have his plumber's license.

Still, Mr. Wurzelbacher wants to start a charity, but he told FoxNews.com "I got no financial offers. I am broke." Sounds like he could benefit from the Obama tax break he mocked on the campaign trail. Better yet, he should pull himself up by his workbelt and get the license he needs so that he can call himself a plumber with a straight face.

If worse comes to worst, Mr. McCain could always make Joe the official handyman of his seven houses. No license required.