MANCHESTER--The voter who took center stage in last night's presidential debate was referenced again in a debate between former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) and current U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester).

Bradley brought up "Joe the plumber" in an answer on Social Security. During the final presidential debate, both John McCain and Barack Obama used "Joe the plumber" as a reference to discuss their plans for middle-class voters.

"I saw the debate last night, and I'm sure that you saw the debate last night, and here's this thing again with plumber Joe," Bradley said in this debate. "Here she goes to want to raise taxes on plumber Joe and you know plumber Joe, I used to be a small business owner I know exactly to means to pay the employer portion of the Social Security tax and the employee portion of the Social Security tax."

The two rivals also had a heated exchange over energy when Bradley criticized Shea-Porter for voting to expand offshore oil drilling to areas that does not contain oil, while Shea-Porter said she was only person in the race who voted in favor of expanded drilling.

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a great novel but as an energy plan it's fiction, and that's why Americans are suffering," Bradley said.

Shea-Porter responded, "We did vote for an energy package that calls for drilling. As a matter of fact I'm the only one up here that's voted for drilling."

While in Congress, Bradley voted against expanded drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and expanded drilling overseas but now says he supports drilling because of rising energy prices.

Both Bradley and Shea-Porter said that they favor an energy policy that invests in renewable energy sources.

Previously on PolitickerNH.com:

-Debate Analysis: Deeper conversation and deeper political truth