Already, the Democratic attacks are taking a toll — GOP challengers are backing away from the road map’s specifics. And while Ryan’s House Republican “Young Gun” colleagues might call him “the brain,” they didn’t use any of his ideas in their new “Pledge to America” — and he didn’t attend its rollout last week.

It’s a far cry from the embrace Ryan’s ideas received earlier in the year when he was celebrated, with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), as one of a trio of emerging leaders set to catapult to power should Republicans take back the House in November…

The Ryan contagion is also being avoided in his home state, where the six-term Republican from Janesville helped recruit former “Real World” star Sean Duffy to run for retiring Democratic Rep. Dave Obey’s seat…

“Sean commends Paul Ryan for creating a plan and getting a needed discussion started; however, he has never endorsed the 100-plus ideas in the 600-plus-page plan,” Duffy spokeswoman Wendy Riemann wrote in an e-mail.