Welcome to this week’s edition of Coronavirus Surge, written in deep isolation. The Surge has barely left the house in a week but hasn’t gone loopy yet. Perhaps that’s because the conversations have been great. It turns out that the sofa has spirited opinions on 19th-century British literature, while the lamp is a strident medievalist. Oh lamp, you churl!





A brief recap from this past Sunday’s debate, which took place in a haunted, abandoned CNN studio two days before Joe Biden effectively shut the door on Bernie Sanders in Tuesday’s primaries: The topic was women, and Biden said (to paraphrase) I’m picking one of those girl folks as my running mate—lots of great gals out there to choose from. And just like that, this week’s Surge theme was born.





Don’t worry: We will not visit the “veepstakes” each week for the next few months, only from time to time. Next week we might rank, who knows, potatoes? Sweatpants? But here’s an early look at the list of women from whom Biden is likely choosing.