Mark Halperin

— -- Mark Halperin has been the Political Director of ABC News since October of 1997. As Political Director, Halperin is responsible for the planning and editorial content of all political news on the network.

In this role, he works with correspondents and producers for all ABC News programs, including "World News with Charles Gibson," "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," "Nightline," "Good Morning America," "20/20," and news specials.

He also regularly appears as a correspondent and political analyst on ABC News television and radio programs.

Halperin joined ABC News in January, 1988. He has specialized in national political coverage, working through four presidential and four mid-term elections.

He started at ABC News as a desk assistant and was a researcher for "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" in New York for the 1988 election. He spent the next four years working in the investigative unit of "World News Tonight" and as a general assignment reporter in Washington.

In 1992, he worked full-time as an off-air reporter assigned to travel with the presidential campaign of then Governor Bill Clinton. He covered President-elect Clinton during the transition in Little Rock and Washington and was assigned to White House coverage for the first two years of the Clinton Administration.

In fall of 1994, Halperin became a producer with ABC's Special Events unit in New York. There he worked as an editorial producer, both in the control room and in the field, on events including the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, the Democratic and Republican conventions, election night, and presidential news conferences.

During this time he also covered the Oklahoma City bombing, the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, and many other breaking news stories.

He is the founder and editor of The Note, which appears daily on ABCNEWS.com. The Washington Post has written that The Note has "a core audience of fanatics who swear by its political analysis."

US News & World Report has called it "a major player in national politics." The Wall Street Journal said, "The writing is always spicy, sometimes hilarious."

Halperin received his college degree from Harvard University in 1987.