While John McCain chose an aspirational plumber as his campaign’s last prevailing symbol, he might have been better served by choosing a small-business owner-operator. Freight’s down, credit’s tight, and the independence most operators cherish is falling out of reach for many. Take Colorado trucker Brian Johnson, who “>didn’t vote early because he was on the road,” reported Denver’s Rocky Mountain News yesterday. The newspaper spoke with Johnson outside Dry Creek Elementary School in Centennial after he cast his ballot. “>I brought a sample ballot,” the paper reported Johnson as saying. “My parents taught me well.”