THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO MY LIVER SINCE I STARTED TAKING N.A.C.: Democratic debate stage to shrink barring last-minute shock.

Ahead of Wednesday night’s deadline to qualify for the ABC News debate in Houston on Sept. 12, only 10 candidates have met both the polling and fundraising thresholds, according to POLITICO’s tracking of the process. Unlike the first two debates, if 10 or fewer candidates qualify, they will all appear together on one night.

If this holds, it would mark the first time in the still-fledgling Democratic race that all the top candidates debated together. The large field and random assignments had, thus far, prevented Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts from appearing with former Vice President Joe Biden or Sen. Kamala Harris of California.

For a time, it appeared billionaire self-funder Tom Steyer would disrupt that. He crossed the fundraising threshold — 130,000 unique donors — two weeks ago, and he sits on the precipice of the polling threshold, having earned 2 percent in three surveys by pollsters approved by the Democratic National Committee.

But the fourth poll — which would make Steyer the 11th qualified candidate and result in the debate being split over two nights — has been elusive.

For a short while it looked like Steyer might be the Dem’s golden boy, but he can’t even buy a podium at the debate.