Reid is not averse to meeting with a wide variety of consultants, the aide said, naming Begala, Geoffrey Garin, Mark Mellman, Susan McCue, Jim Margolis and Third Way's Matt Bennett as folks who've met with him this year. "He might not listen to all of them, but he hears them out," the aide said.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) said that many in the room left with a grudging respect for Luntz. "I thought it was great," he said of the briefing. "He really showed his ability to put things in interesting terms and people had to concede that he was pretty good at the use of language."
Murray, too, was impressed by Luntz' skill, if not his ultimate political goals--if, in fact, he actually has any underlying political ideology.
"I think people listened to him with interest. He's an intelligent guy and his goal is to help you provide the language to fight for what you believe in. And certainly he's doing that right now for those who want to oppose any kind of change in health care," she said.
Democrats have been slow on the rhetorical battleground, according to Feingold. "I think people took to heart not only what he was saying but [were] closely following how he was trying to manipulate the health care issue," Feingold said. "After the experience in 1994 and various other issues, Democrats have learned the lesson that you can't just have the right policies, you also have to use the right language. It's a question we were a little slow in learning."
Republicans, meanwhile, are calling themselves less impressed by Luntz's memo, claiming that the arguments they make are their own.
"There may be some overlap between what pollsters say and what politicians say, but some of it's just common sense," said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "We're for reform."
But being on the side of reform is Luntz talking point number ten, the Huffington Post pointed out.
"We didn't need him to tell us that we're for reform," said Stewart.