ABC Political Director
Mark Halperin
Interview
Notes from Evan Smith
"This one's for the insiders -- the political junkies, the media obsessives, the fetishistic consumers of news and spin and analysis, the traffickers in highbrow gossip. Those of you who TiVo Meet the Press and the other Sunday morning shows. Who have a picture of Maureen Dowd, or, maybe, David Brooks, taped up to the refrigerator. And, most especially, those of you who read The Note, the political tip and clip sheet compiled under the direction of this week's guest, ABC News political director Mark Halperin, who's better plugged into official Washington, with all of its traditions and rhythms and peculiarities, than perhaps anyone on the planet. Forty-one-year-old Halperin, whose roundtable commentary on This Week with George Stephanopolous have made him something of a familar face, is descended from insider stock himself. His father was a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Johnson administration and served alongside Henry Kissinger on Richard Nixon's National Security Council. Morton Halperin once told his son that the role of media was "to hold powerful interests accountable to the public interest," and that's what Mark has done ever since joining the ABC News family 17 years ago. Whether covering the Clinton presidential campaign in the early '90s or coordinating the network'scoverage of Bushworld these last few years, Halperin has helped to demystify the electoral process, expose the politics at the center of policy, and produce what amounts to a daily intelligence briefing for people in the know -- or people who want to be. " - Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 10.20.07Watch the 10.20.05 interview.