Even as his chance for the nomination appears to be slipping away, Bernie Sanders remains unbowed, looking forward to what is expected to be the first head-to-head debate on Sunday, between him and Joe Biden.

However, Sanders also seemed to nod to the reality that Biden now seems likely to win the Democratic presidential nomination, with his appearance Wednesday night on The Tonight Show.

“Today, I say to the Democratic establishment, in order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country and you must speak to the issues of concern to them. You cannot simply be satisfied by winning the votes of people who are older,” Sanders said Wednesday, after he lost the major primary in Michigan, as well as those in other states.

“While our campaign has won the ideological debate, we are losing the debate over electability. I cannot tell you how many people our campaign has spoken to who have said, and I quote, ‘I like what your campaign stands for, but I’m going to vote for Joe Biden because I think Joe is the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.’ We have heard that statement all over this country. Needless to say, I strongly disagree with that assertion. But that is what millions of Democrats and independents today believe. On Sunday, I very much look forward to the debate in Arizona with my friend, Joe Biden.”

Sanders was a guest of host Jimmy Fallon later Wednesday on NBC’s Tonight Show, where he acknowledged that Biden could win in November.

“Say it is Biden, do you think Biden can beat Trump?” Fallon asked.

“I do. I mean, I think, you know, when you have a president who is a pathological liar. When you have a president who truly, apparently has never read the Constitution of the United States,” Sanders said to audience laughter and applause. “Who thinks he is above the law, who is a racist and a sexist and all of that stuff, I think even Republicans and moderates are going to say, ‘You know what, we can’t have four more years of this guy.’ So do I think Joe can beat him I do between you and me, don’t tell anybody.”

Update: After we went to press, organizers of the Democratic debate in Phoenix, Ariz., Sunday cancelled the planned head-to-head event in Arizona, and will instead hold it at a studio in Washington DC, as a precaution of the coronavirus covid 19 outbreak, according to news reports.

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