Trailhead: A campaign blog.

Lessons from Tito the Builder

Joe the Plumber may never have fancied himself the mascot of the Republican Party, but Tito Munoz seemed fully prepared for the role.

Munoz showed up at a McCain rally in Woodbridge, Va. last weekend dressed in a yellow hardhat and orange surveyor vest, decked out in McCain-Palin flair and sporting a sign that read “Construction Worker for McCain-Palin” on one side and “Media—Tell the Whole Story!” on the other. During McCain’s stump speech, Munoz was behind the candidate, alongside “Phil the Bricklayer” and “Rose the Teacher.”

After McCain had left, Munoz planted himself a few yards behind the press bleachers and started shouting about the media. He quickly attracted a small crowd of reporters and fellow rally-goers. (Listen to audio of Munoz here and here, and see the Mother Jones video here.)

“Why you guys have to go and find every little thing that Joe the Plumber is about?” he demanded. “How come you have not done the same thing with Obama?”

If publicity was Munoz’s goal, it worked. National Review’s Byron York devoted 800 words to Munoz in a story about the “Joe the Plumber” phenomenon, which received considerable blog attention. The McCain campaign noticed, and two days later Sarah Palin introduced "Tito the builder" into her stump speech.

“Tito is not pleased with how the Barack Obama campaign and some of the media friends there have been roughing up Joe the Plumber,” Palin said at a Colorado rally.

Is it really that easy to insert oneself into the campaign storyline? Munoz’s case is worthy of a close read. Here are a few tips on how to become a McCain campaign personality:

• Make Your Profession Clear. Sarah Palin cannot shoehorn you into the “(name) the (profession)” formula if she doesn’t know what you do. Blue-collar jobs are preferable but not required. If your line of work involves a uniform, wear it. (Note: Party City has hundreds of locations nationwide.)
• Choose a red-meat issue. Choices include media bias, taxes, and William Ayers. No need to confine yourself to one if the spirit moves you. Just let it flow.
• Find David Corn. The bulk of Munoz’s tirade was directed at Mother Jones Washington bureau chief David Corn, who provoked him for several minutes with requests for facts to back-up his arguments. That exchange got the crowd riled around Munoz, which attracted more people and more reporters. If Corn isn’t present, any journalist willing to engage the mob will suffice.
• Humility, humility. “I’m just an ordinary person, like everybody,” Munoz told the crowd. “But I’m tired of listening to the bias in the media. And today I make a decision to come and support [McCain] and come and confront you guys.”
• Project. Munoz was not without competition during his impromptu press-bashing press conference. At one point, a taller man in a brown jacket directly behind him—pictured here—briefly stole the spotlight when he started yelling that “human life begins at conception, end of story.” Not to be outdone, Tito simply out-shouted his competitor.

It worked for Tito. Meanwhile, Senate candidate and former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore stood twenty feet away, looking lonely.