Welcome to this week’s edition of the Surge, our weekly newsletter ranking 2020 presidential candidates according to, uh, whatever scraps of news we picked up between long blocs of time without our electronic devices covering the impeachment trial. Those days are over, though, as the Surge is headed to Iowa to report on the ground through the caucuses on Feb. 3. Expect a lot more granular content about crucial precincts and county commissioner endorsements soon. (Just kidding. It will still be jokes about how Tom Steyer loves Bernie Sanders, but written from Des Moines.)





This week, in addition to the latest Steyer-Sanders rumors, we look at the battle that’s erupted over Joe Biden’s Social Security record, the kerfuffle over Donald Trump’s Social Security comments, the merging of two notable gangs, and what Michael Bloomberg is spending millions of dollars on this week. And could it be that the Democratic establishment has slept on the same candidate for the second straight cycle?