Greg Giroux spotted it first, and Capital New York writes it up:
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber," has formed a congressional campaign committee and filed a statement of candicacy, according to the Federal Election Commission's website.
The filing for "Joe for Congress 2012" was just submitted on Friday, and the scanned file does not yet appear on the FEC's site, and went without notice, to my knowledge, until a couple of hours ago.
The statement of candidacy isn't online yet, but it lists Wurzelbacher in Ohio's Ninth District, which has been held by Democrat Marcy Kaptur since 1983. Wurzelbacher floated the idea he might challenge Kaptur in 2010, and there have been rumors recently that he might consider a run.
This race is going to be as big of a joke as Joe the Plumber himself. The new 9th District was drawn as a deliberate Democratic vote sink—Republicans linked up Cleveland's West Side all the way to distant Toledo precisely to isolate as many Democratic voters as possible in a single congressional seat. It's a clever gerrymander, which means any Republican who would try to run here just isn't very clever at all. And that, of course, describes Joe the Plumber perfectly.
There's still a serious Democratic primary that needs to get resolved first—Kaptur will face off against fellow incumbent Dennis Kucinich. But that's where the real action is going to be. Wurzelbacher will just get flushed by whoever emerges as the Dem nominee. And then maybe, just maybe, we'll be rid of him once and for all.