You know by now that my political prediction habit has been set aside because of poor past performance.

So, when I offer a possible scenario playing out I usually cover my posterior by saying that “I won’t be surprised” if such-and-such happens.

With all of that laid out there for you, I want to offer a brief look ahead at what I think could happen in the next bit of time as four more states conduct Democratic Party presidential primary elections on Tuesday.

Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona Democrats are voting for their party’s presidential nominee. Two main candidates are still standing: former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Sen. Bernie Sanders; a third pretender remains, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. It’s down to Joe and Bernie.

What could happen Tuesday? Let’s try this: Biden scores huge victories in all four states and collects about 300 (give or take) more delegates to the national nominating convention. He builds a gigantic delegate lead over Sanders. He slams the door shut on Sanders’ path to the nomination and tosses the key into the drink. What does Sanders do?

In my mind, Bernie needs to then call a halt to his campaign. It was a valiant effort but there’s no way on God’s good Earth he gets the nomination. He concedes to his “good friend Joe,” and then endorses his candidacy, vowing to make good on what he said Sunday night at the debate he and Biden staged, that he will work to “defeat the most corrupt president in modern U.S. history,” Donald John Trump.

Biden and Sanders share a common goal, to boot Trump out of the Oval Office. If Sen. Sanders is a man of his word, and I believe that’s the case, then he will realize that with no path forward, any effort to continue is futile.

Does he extract some concessions from Biden? Sure. That’s what politics is all about. Dare I call it seeking a quid pro quo? Sanders could offer to leave the race and throw his support behind the victor, but only if the other guy, Biden, buys into some of the more progressive planks in his platform.

Will any of this happen? I certainly hope it does. I hope the party unifies behind the winner of the fight, gathers its wits about it and then goes straight after the man who never should have been elected to the presidency.

Here we go … former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders are going to debate each other on Sunday.

It will be a precursor to what is looking more and more as if Biden will finish Bernie off when the ballots are counted the following Tuesday. Biden will win big in many of the states that are having Democratic presidential primary elections.

Here, though, is a bit of good news for those of us who are interested in this upcoming debate. It will be staged without an audience of faithful supporters. Yes, it’ll be just Joe and Bernie answering questions in a quiet and empty room standing or sitting before a panel of journalists/moderators. The coronavirus pandemic has mandated this move, which I happen to applaud.

This is good news for yours truly. Why? Because I have stated before on this blog my distaste for cheering, whooping and hollering at these joint appearances. They serve to distract us all from the issues being discussed. The candidates too often prepare laugh/applause/cheering lines aimed only at eliciting the kind of responses that move public opinion polling needs in their direction.

Sanders today seem to turn the debate into a sort of open-book test by previewing the questions he intends to ask Biden. He made his first public statements this morning after the drubbing he suffered at Biden’s hands Tuesday night. Fine. Let the debate go forward.

I look forward to seeing and hearing the two major finalists for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. Moreover, I look even more forward to hearing them without the crowd noise that has become associated with these events.

The chatter in the wake of Tuesday night’s stunning rebuke of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “revolution” is making it clear to me.

It’s likely time for Sen. Sanders to end this effort.

Why? You may count me as one American who wants to defeat Donald John Trump. So does Bernie. So does Joe Biden, to whom Sanders got hammered in four primary states, including the so-called “make or break” state of Michigan.

Biden cruised to a double-digit victory. What’s even more stunning is that Biden defeated Sanders in every one of Michigan’s counties. From inner city Wayne County to the Upper Peninsula of Gogebic County, they all went to Biden.

That result, if nothing else matters, ought to tell Sen. Sanders that his time has elapsed. It’s time for him to wrap it up, call it a campaign and then dedicate himself — alongside his “good friend Joe” — to defeating Donald Trump.

Yes, we have a debate coming up with Joe and Bernie. Just the two of ’em will share a stage. It might be that Sanders is hoping for a Biden blunder, that the former vice president will say something outrageous … as he is at times prone to do. My hope is that Joe Biden produces a studied, steady and sturdy debate performance to show he can withstand the pressure and turn back the adrenalin rush that at times clouds this veteran pol’s better instincts.

If he does that, and then blows Bernie out one more time, well … it’s over.

I sorta thought that if the networks called Michigan as a Joe Biden win in that state’s Democratic Party presidential primary the moment the polls closed that it would spell curtains for Bernie Sanders’ candidacy.

The networks waited a while, but they called the state for the former vice president.

Hmm. It still seems to be the death knell for Sen. Sanders and his revolution/movement. Why? Well, the hill only get steeper for Bernie if he intends to capture more convention delegates than Joe.

Florida is coming up, along with Georgia. Biden will sweep Bernie in those two states. New York isn’t looking good for Sanders. Arizona well could go for Biden.

It doesn’t get any easier for Sanders to overtake Biden.

So the Vermont independent senator has to ponder the obvious: Is it worth the time, the effort and the money it will take to collect enough delegates to make a serious difference?

Sanders will fight for concessions in the Democratic Party platform, as if such things actually matter when the nominees trudge off to do battle with the other party’s candidate for president.

It’s looking to me and to many others that this nomination belongs to Biden. The two men will face off Sunday in a debate. Just the two of them will argue with each other.

Yes, I’m all in for Biden. I want him to be the Democratic Party presidential nominee. If he holds himself together in that joint appearance with Sanders and then buries him in the next round of primaries, well, then it’s time to turn out the lights.

Timothy Egan is a fabulous reporter and writer. I am in the middle of a book he wrote about the Dust Bowl, “The Worst Hard Time.” It’s a great read that captures the essence of the Texas Panhandle, where I lived for 23 years.

He also is an astute political observer. He has written in The New York Times that the Democratic Party primary field needs to cull itself now, get down to the two leading candidates: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

The rest of ’em need to go: Tom Steyer, Mike Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg … and maybe even Elizabeth Warren.

Egan thinks there’s a good chance Warren will lose to Sanders in her home state of Massachusetts, which votes on Super Tuesday. Hmm. If she can’t win there, well, where else is there?

Read Egan’s essay here.

If I were king of the world, I would strongly prefer Biden over Bernie.

My sense is that the country needs to return to an old fashioned politician — and I mean that in the good way — who knows how to govern. Someone who knows the importance of compromise. We don’t need another “revolutionary,” which is how Sanders portrays himself and his legions of supporters.

Yes, I know that both of these guys are old. They’re both pushing 80. I am not all that far behind them on the road to eternity, so I can kinda/sorta relate to them.

The country, though, needs Joe Biden to restore some values of decency, decorum, dignity to the White House. I have had enough of Donald Trump. As for the rest of the Democratic Party field, heed Timothy Egan’s advice … and stand down.