JEFFERSON CITY -- It started as a YouTube ad created by a couple of whiz kids who refer to themselves on the Internet as 2DumbKids.

But it turned into an actual television ad in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate between Congressman Roy Blunt and state Sen. Chuck Purgason.

Purgason hasn't yet raised enough money to get on TV, but Joe the Plumber has. Yes, that Joe the Plumber, aka Joe Wurzelbacher, the man whose questioning of President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race drove him to instant fame.

Wurzelbacher issued a news release today saying that he paid for a statewide television ad buy putting up the ad endorsing Purgason.

"I wanted to show that individuals can have some say in what's going on," Wurzelbacher told the Political Fix in a phone interview from Wisconsin where he's fishing with his son. "I called and got a couple of people to donate," he said.

Wurzelbacher said he filed the appropriate paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to make an individual expenditure on Purgason's behalf. He said Purgason knew nothing of his plans.

The report doesn't yet show up on the FEC Web site. Wurzelbacher said the ad will be running in every TV market in Missouri except for Kansas City. He said the ad starts today and will run through Aug. 3.

Blunt has already been up with two television ads. He leads Purgason in the primary by an overwhelming 62 percent to 13 percent, according to a Post-Dispatch poll.