LAS VEGAS — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, seeking to console liberal activists who were disappointed by the final version of the national health care law, assured them that there would eventually be a public option.

“We’re going to have a public option,” Reid said. “It’s just a question of when.”

Reid’s general comments reflected the same overall message to progressives that President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered earlier today. It essentially boils down to: We’ve done a lot of stuff, but we still have a lot of unfinished business, so campaign for us again.

During a question and answer session, Reid also argued against “fear tactics of those who say Social Security is going broke. It’s not.”

This is part of a strategy I described earlier this week, with Democrats renewing the spectre of Social Security cuts to use as an issue against Republicans.

“Social Security is the most successful social program in the history of the world,” he said.

I explained why its finances are a major problem for the U.S. here.