When 'Unexpectedly' is Better Than Nothing

“It’s not that the causes of the Right are never winning, Jim Geraghy writes today at NRO’s Campaign Spot, “it’s that the wins and losses are coming in such unexpected places. Think back to, say, five years ago:”

Would you have predicted that a tough law reducing the political power of public sector unions would withstand all challenges in Wisconsin… but falter in Ohio?

Would you have expected that Katrina-devastated Louisiana would have a tough, smart governor implementing one groundbreaking reform after another, while the mayor of New York obsesses about banning large sodas?

Would you have predicted that Anthony Kennedy would vote with Scalia and Thomas on one of the biggest Supreme Court cases in a generation… while John Roberts voted with Ginsberg and Breyer?

Would you have predicted a domestic energy production revival that brings unemployment rates to 4.3 percent or less in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska… while Nevada limps along with the highest unemployment rate in the country?

Would you have predicted Republican senators representing states like Pennsylvania (Pat Toomey), Illinois (Mark Kirk), Massachusetts (Scott Brown), or Wisconsin (Ron Johnson) but not states like Virginia, Colorado, Montana, or West Virginia?

The Occupy movement is gone, while swing state and swing-district Democrats are avoiding their convention like it’s got Ebola.

The Right has gotten some wins in recent months and years … just not necessarily the ones we expected.