The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. features an instructive piece on where Pennsylvania’s would-be senators stand on federal debt. You may have heard of it. It’s that problem of how we’re going to manage a debt projected to balloon past $14 trillion next year?

Pat Toomey and Joe Sestak both seem to agree on one thing: Tax relief is the way to go. Of course, whereas Toomey supports it across the board (while not directly addressing the question of actively paying down the debt), Sestak supports it only for “working families” earning under $250,000.

Toomey said making all of Bush’s tax cuts permanent will send a strong signal to Americans that they can invest, start or expand their businesses, hire workers and save money. Raising taxes, he reasons, makes the nation’s debt harder to solve because it feeds the root of the problem — excessive government spending — and slows the economic growth that generates tax revenues.

Toomey’s absolutely right with his “starve the beast” line of thinking on avoiding more revenue for a profligate Congress. But the discontent of voters is fueled as much by high taxes as it is deficit spending. Toomey might strengthen his message on debt and taxes if he were to elaborate on a debt fix beyond supply-side advocacy.

Sestak views an extension of the tax cuts as crucial to protecting the delicate finances of the middle class and families living paycheck-to-paycheck, those who he says were hurt most by the recession. But the country must recognize that it’s time to start managing the debt, Sestak said, and the wealthiest are most able to contribute after benefiting most from the Bush tax cuts.

So Sestak offers basically to be Pat Toomey-lite on tax relief. A narrow path, and a somewhat picayune one, especially in a year when stark party choices are confronting Pennsylvanians. Given the choice between the real deal and the look-alike, most will opt for the real deal.

Regardless of one’s thinking on whether some should be hosed come tax day in the hopes of making a dent in the deficit, Toomey is likely to benefit merely by promoting a tax relief agenda that seems more straightforward and less caveat-ridden than his opponent.