I do think he would have had a chance if he had stuck to his guns on immigration. Say what you will about the "unlikely voters" line, there is no path to anything worthwhile through rank and file DNC primary voters.
You have the same problem with normie libs that you do with leftists. Some of them, maybe even most of them, are buying into the NPR line out of a genuine lack of better information. But many pursue it out of self interest and pressure their hostages to collaborate.