Poor John McCain. Every time he tries to hitch his star to someone he thinks will help him win the presidency, they turn out to be duds. First Sarah Palin scared the you-know-what out of every sane American, and now Joe the Plumber is costing McCain poll numbers. After a week of campaigning in Joe’s name, McCain is down at least seven points.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama attracting 52% of the vote while John McCain earns 45%. That seven-point lead is Obama’s largest in nearly two weeks. This is also the first time since October 11 that the Democratic candidate has reached the 52% level of support, his highest total of the year…

Rasmussen Reports data indicates that Obama currently has the edge in every state won by John Kerry four years ago. However, of the states won by George Bush, McCain is trailing in four and five others are considered a toss-up.

You have to wonder, yet again, what McCain was thinking when he decided to spotlight Samuel J. “Joe” Wurzelbacher, who currently owes $1,200 in back taxes and is looking to get out of paying more. Joe the Unlicensed, Non-Union, Wannabe Plumber is living proof that Joe Biden was right when he said that paying taxes is patriotic (not, as McCain/Palin twisted it, that paying higher taxes is patriotic). But then again, maybe McCain put as much background checking into his selection of Joe the Plumber as a campaign emblem as he did Sarah Palin as a vice president. And we all know how well that’s turned out.