Rick Klein has been named Political Director for ABC News. He will oversee the division’s political unit and help steer the network’s coverage of major news events on all platforms. Throughout the 2012 election cycle, he helped guide World News political reporting and was a key member of the editorial team that produced the Republican primary debates. He also played Paul Ryan in the network’s mock Vice Presidential debate moderated by Martha Raddatz. The appointment comes the same week the news division tapped a pair of New York Times staffers, Jeff Zeleny and Susan Saulny, to boost their Washington DC bureau.