A Surge of "Surges"

Am I totally crazy, or has the Bush administration's "surge" policy in Iraq produced a surge in the use of the term "surge" in America? I feel like every time a candidate's polling number start improving these days, we say he's "surging." Was that always the word in vogue? It's common, of course, for war to impact the language -- "shell shocked," etc. -- but I'd always hoped "shock and awe" would be Iraq War Deux's distinctive contribution to the American lexicon.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/01/a-surge-of-surges/47805/