McCain appeared alongside Wurzelbacher in an informal rally at a town square gazebo in this midwestern town as part of a two-day bus tour of Ohio, a state he almost certainly must win to claim the White House.

Wurzelbacher was adopted as the de facto mascot of McCain's campaign after he quizzed Barack Obama over his tax plan, claiming the Democrat's policies would leave him worse off if he tried to buy his own business.

McCain has used the burly shaven-headed Wurzelbacher to support his claims that Obama is a tax-and-spend liberal determined to hit ordinary working class Americans in the pocket. ...