BLOWBACK: How Simpson-Bowles Is Hindering Democratic Candidates.

Chris Van Hollen is a career legislator running with the support of party leaders in Maryland. Joe Sestak is a onetime admiral in the U.S. Navy running an outsider’s campaign in Pennsylvania.

But the two Democratic candidates for Senate share an important similarity: Both once praised the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan — and are now paying the price.

Van Hollen, who is running against fellow Rep. Donna Edwards, called Simpson-Bowles a “framework” for a budget deal during a 2012 interview. Sestak, who held a House seat for two terms and is running against former Al Gore adviser Katie McGinty, said it is a “template” for deficit reduction during a January speech.

Both Maryland and Pennsylvania hold their congressional primaries on April 26. Polls show near toss-ups in both races with Sestak and Edwards leading narrowly in most.

To Edwards and McGinty, those comments were potent enough to make them central to their campaigns, seizing on the plan’s proposed changes to Social Security. In a torrent of TV ads and public statements, the candidates have accused their opponents of selling out seniors to cut a backroom deal with Republicans.

The usual fearmongering.