Political Quotes

“``This is Carl Eggleston. There's always hope.'' So ends every voice-filled greeting on Carl's phone in the 36 years I have known him. No better few words describe the resilient, optimistic, and indefatigable man I love. I first met Carl Eggleston briefly during the congressional campaign of Ira Lechner in 1982. Carl was friends and political allies with the brain trust of the campaign: Darrel Martin and Linda Moore. A few years later, we worked very different parts of Virginia in Jerry Baliles' winning race for Governor. But my life changed completely when I visited Carl at his home in Farmville in the summer of 1988, at the beginning of my first-ever candidacy for office. Carl agreed to join my small team, and from that day forward, he was my constant companion. We traveled everywhere across the Commonwealth together. He introduced me to the most important players in Democratic politics and virtually every important African-American leader in the State. I discovered that Carl was universally respected and liked and that his endorsement helped immensely. In the coming years, we worked many campaigns together--some winning, some losing--always as trusted friends and allies. But the real Carl Eggleston story is so much more interesting than his long history in Democratic Party leadership. He was born in poverty to two loving parents in the Jim Crow South.…”