Mark Halperin - Biography

Mark E. Halperin (born January 11, 1965) is the senior political analyst for Time magazine, Time.com, and MSNBC and serves as a board member on the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. He is the co-author (with John Heilemann) of Game Change.

Personal

Mark Halperin is the son of Morton Halperin and Ina Young. He has two brothers, David and Gary. He was born in Bethesda, Maryland, or Cambridge, Massachusetts, and raised in Bethesda, where he attended Walt Whitman High School. Halperin received his college degree from Harvard University in 1987.

Career

In 1988 Halperin started out as a desk assistant for ABC News and a researcher for World News Tonight. He then worked 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 producer covering Bill Clinton. In 1994 Halperin became a producer with ABC's special events unit in New York and later an editorial producer.

In 1997 he was named the political director for ABC News. As director, Halperin appeared frequently as a correspondent and political analyst for ABC News television and radio programs. He also founded and edited The Note, which appears daily on ABCNews.com. In October 2006, Halperin, along with John F. Harris, released their book, The Way to Win: Clinton, Bush, Rove, and How to Take the White House in 2008 (ISBN 1400064473).

Since 2006 Halperin has been a board member of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. He has been on the NHIOP public advisory board since it was created in 2008. In February 2009, Halperin met with students and faculty at the NHIOP and gave a public lecture titled "The Obama Administration—The Story So Far".

In March 2007, Halperin became a political analyst for ABC News and was replaced as political director by David Chalian. In May 2007, he was hired as a political analyst and editor at large for Time magazine. In June 2010, he was hired as senior political analyst at MSNBC. In 2011, Time Magazine released an iPad app called "Mark Halperin 2012" that contains material from Mr. Halperin's "The Page" as well as video, photos, breaking news, and Halperin's take on the news.

2004 elections

In October 2004 the Drudge Report published a memo Halperin sent to ABC News staff about coverage of the U.S. presidential election directing them not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable" and that both John Kerry and George W. Bush used "distortion" in their campaign, but that Kerry’s distortions were not "central to his efforts to win." Halperin was criticized by conservatives who used the memo to reinforce long-standing complaints of media bias. ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider confirmed the authenticity of the memo and said Halperin "takes his responsibility to be fair as seriously as a heart attack." In 2006, Halperin would criticize the media for being biased in favor of Kerry after a controversial remark that the senator made.

MSNBC suspension

On June 30, 2011, Halperin was suspended from his duties at MSNBC for "slurring" President Barack Obama on the program Morning Joe, saying the president came off as "kind of a dick" during the previous day's press conference. His suspension was lifted little over a month later.

Bibliography

• Mark Halperin and John F. Harris, The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008, Random House, October 2006, ISBN 1400064473
• Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, Harper, January 2010, ISBN 0061733636

External links

• The Page, Halperin's blog at Time.com
  • Biography