How would a national primary campaign between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton play out? Recently both David Wasserman and Nate Silver have attempted to sketch out what a longer-running electoral battle between Sanders and Clinton might look like.

Both Wasserman and Silver argue that because Sanders’s support stems from a base of white liberal Democrats, Bernie might be able to compete with Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, but he will struggle in states with different voter populations.

Let us leave aside the question of whether it’s reasonable to assume that Sanders — who has already defied conventional wisdom to push Clinton to the brink in the early states — cannot conceivably broaden his appeal to include non-white or non-liberal voters.