CBS News has named the senior broadcast producer, as well as seven senior producers and a director of production, for its upcoming morning program “CBS This Morning.” Tom Mazzarelli has been named senior broadcast producer foe the program. Mazzarelli had been a senior producer for “The Early Show.” Rick Jefferson has been named director of production for the program. Jefferson had been a manager of technical operations at MSNBC.

In addition to Mazzarelli, some of the “Early Show” and CBS holdovers include: Ryan Kadro, Bob Meyer, Kevin Rochford, Mosheh Oinounou and Sharon Hoffman.

The new additions include Eva Nordstrom, who joins CBS from Bloomberg TV and Rachel Weintraub Riegel, who was co-executive producer of “The Gayle King Show” on OWN. King is now a co-anchor of “CBS This Morning.”

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Both CBS News and ABC News announced key staffing appointments for their political teams today, as the 2012 election cycle looms.

CBS News president David Rhodes announced in an email to staffers that Caroline Horn, who currently coordinates political coverage on “CBS Evening News,” has been promoted to senior producer for politics. The CBS political unit will also depend on senior political producers for the major broadcasts, including Ward Sloane for “Evening News” and former Fox News political producer Mosheh Oinounou for “The Early Show.”

ABC News also announced a new hire: Ron Brownstein, editorial director for The National Journal, will join the network’s political team, according to an email from ABC News president Ben Sherwood. Brownstein will contribute political analysis across all ABC’s platforms. He will also contribute to CNN as a senior political analyst.

The National Journal also has a partnership with CBS News, which Rhodes mentions in his full memo to CBS staffers. Both memos are after the jump.

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Bloomberg TV international desk editor Mosheh Oinounou is leaving the company to join CBS’ “The Early Show” as a senior producer, based in Washington DC.

Before joining Bloomberg, Oinounou was a producer for “Fox News Sunday,” and a political producer for Fox News Channel. Interestingly enough, Oinounou has been following David Rhodes as he has moved from organization to organization. Rhodes was an executive at FNC before joining Bloomberg as the head of Bloomberg TV. Earlier this year he became president of CBS News.The memo announcing his hire from “Early Show” EP Batt Humphreys is after the jump.

Oinounou’s hire is the latest in a string of moves designed to bolster the morning show’s political coverage in advance of the 2012 presidential election. The program has held town halls with political leaders, and earlier this month the National Journal profiled the program’s political ambitions.

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Will the broadcast networks and cable news channels need to find alternative programming Friday night at 9pmET?

At 2:48pmET Fox News began reporting the news that Sen. John McCain was going to suspend his campaign to return to Washington where the debate on the bailout bill continues. A few minutes later Fox News picked up the AP newsalert that McCain wanted to postpone the first of the Presidential debates set for Friday night in Oxford, MS.

MSNBC reported the news at 2:55; CNN reported it a few seconds later.

McCain says he, and Barack Obama, should return to Washington, D.C. where the sitting Senators could participate in the debate on the $700 billion bill.

So, what do you think?
Should Friday’s Debate Go On?
( surveys)

(pictured is Mosheh Oinounou, the FNC embed producer with the McCain campaign, just after he “ran down 6th Avenue” after leaving McCain’s briefing)

> Update: Just before 5pmET, Barack Obama held a news conference announcing that he believes the debate should go on…

Seventeen magazine profiles two of Fox News Channel’s young political reporters. Embed producers Bonney Kapp (with the Sen. Barack Obama campaign) and Mosheh Oinounou (with the Sen. John McCain campaign) have been on the trail for more than a year.

“What’s different this election is that young people are actually involved. In past elections, they never voted. Well, this time they are!” says Kapp.

Oinounou describes how young people can get involved in journalism. “It’s important to be aware of what’s going on in the world. Growing up, the things that are most important to you are directly around you,” he says. “But it’s also important to be aware of what’s going on in the world, because the world catches up to you very quickly!”

Kapp and Oinounou report on the campaign trail on Foxnews.com’s embed blog.