Yeah, in my opinion at least, nobody quite brings back the sound and feel of a particular moment quite like Elvis Costello. At the first bar of the song posted below, I’m back in law school, living in a shack on the Macon Highway in Athens, GA, second-guessing my own every move, including my attachment to “this year’s girl.” Amazing.

Here are some less melodic midday news/views treats:

* In the Democratic sample of that PPP survey of NH mentioned in the last post, Sanders leading Clinton 42/35, without Biden in the mix.

* Monmouth survey shows Lindsey Graham tied for seventh in native SC.

* Some legal precedent for state parties imposing loyalty oath on candidates, as some might do with Trump. No way to enforce it, of course.

* U.S. stocks up sharply today, even as Chinese markets continue slump, or crash, or whatever you want to call it.

* Boehner casting about for strategy to avoid government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding, hasn’t found any just yet.

And in non-political news:

* Ex-wife will not get any of Lucious Lyon’s–er, I mean Terrence Howard’s–Empire earnings.

As we break for lunch, here’s Elvis Costello with “This Year’s Girl,” in Boston in 1978.

YouTube video

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.