Pundit power couple James Carville and Mary Matalin will not be continuing their contracts with CNN, according to FishbowlDC sources. In addition, Bill Bennett and Maria Cardona are also parting ways with the network, although CNN Espanol will keep Cardona on board. 
 
 In other news, RedState‘s Erick Erickson will be foregoing his CNN contract and sources say he will be heading to Fox News. 
 
 As reported by TVNewser, CNN Executive VP and Managing Editor Mark Whitaker has resigned. Read all about it here. ||||| CNN executive VP and managing editor Mark Whitaker is leaving the network, multiple people familiar with the decision tell TVNewser. 
 
 Whitaker joined CNN two years ago and was the first person to fill the EVP/managing editor position. In that role, he shaped CNN Worldwide’s editorial content, including the “overall approach, tone and direction of CNN’s reporting,” the network said at the time. Now, CNN says it is eliminating the managing editor position. 
 
 He also occasionally went hands-on with programming, as with Soledad O’Brien‘s “Starting Point” morning show. Whitaker oversaw the development of the show, which has failed to jump-start CNN in the mornings. CNN is planning to revamp its morning lineup, potentially with ABC anchor Chris Cuomo. 
 
 Whitaker departs right as his old boss Jeff Zucker enters CNN. Zucker will be leading CNN’s editorial direction going forward. 
 
 Update: In a memo to staff obtained by TVNewser, Whitaker cites Zucker’s arrivial as the impetus behind the decision to leave. 
 
 [With] Jeff Zucker’s arrival, we have a new leader with his own forceful ideas about where to take CNN’s reporting, programming and brand. For him to succeed, I believe he deserves his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff. I have shared that conclusion with him and he has agreed to let me step down as Managing Editor and move on from CNN. As someone who worked with Jeff at NBC, I know what a bold innovator he is, and I wish him and you all the best as you embark on CNN’s next great adventure. 
 
 In a statement, Zucker said: 
 
 “I want to thank Mark for his service at CNN. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him the best in the future.” 
 
 Whitaker’s full memo, after the jump. 
 
 ||||| Photo: Neilson Barnard/2009 Getty Images 
 
 It’s Jeff Zucker’s job to make CNN relevant again, and he’s doing it the only way he knows how. The network announced today that former Good Morning America anchor and the governor’s brother Chris Cuomo is leaving ABC in an attempt to save the mornings at CNN. Zucker, as explained by Vulture’s Josef Adalian, first made his name in the morning infotainment game, jump-starting NBC’s Today show into dominance. And CNN could use the jolt: Currently in Cuomo’s soon-to-be slot is Soledad O’Brien’s Starting Point, which last year tallied fewer total viewers in the a.m. hours than any time over the last decade. 
 
 Zucker has also added John Berman as a co-host to Early Start, the network’s 5 to 7 a.m. show, along with Jake Tapper, the star White House correspondent who will transition this year into anchor-dom. 
 
 To make room for his team, Zucker is also doing some housecleaning: Fishbowl D.C. reports that husband and wife Mary Matalin and James Carville will not renew their contributor contracts at CNN, with Bill Bennet and Maria Cardona also moving on. “I was told that they wanted the contributors to be more available — essentially, closer to Washington,” Carville told Politico. “I’m not always available, I don’t live there.” He said it was not his choice to leave. 
 
 Meanwhile, Erick Erickson, the Red State blogger turned professional righty pundit, will leave CNN for Fox News, which has a Sarah Palin–size hole to fill. 
 
 Behind the scenes at Zucker’s CNN, executive VP and managing editor Mark Whitaker is out, TV Newser reports, signaling a change in the way CNN finds and transmits news. In a farewell memo, Whitaker, who worked with Zucker previously, wrote, “we have a new leader with his own forceful ideas about where to take CNN’s reporting, programming, and brand. For him to succeed, I believe he deserves his own team and management structure and the freedom to communicate one clear vision to the staff.” 
 
 “As someone who worked with Jeff at NBC,” Whitaker concluded, “I know what a bold innovator he is, and I wish him and you all the best as you embark on CNN’s next great adventure.” 
 
 Update: Erick Erickson reflects fondly on his time at CNN. “I’ve learned I can be on television for twenty-six straight hours and still make relative sense,” he writes at Red State. “I’ve learned that some of the people I grew up thinking were in the enemy’s camp, so to speak, are spectacular people who share many of the same interests and opinions I do.” 
 
 As for O’Brien, a CNN spokesperson tells TV Newser, “Soledad is very important to the network, and we’re discussing various options with her.”
– New CNN honcho Jeff Zucker is making some big changes at the network, notes Daily Intel: Husband-and-wife duo James Carville and Mary Matalin won't get new contracts, reports Fishbowl DC. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson is leaving for Fox. (Sarah Palin won't be back at Fox.) Chris Cuomo, 20/20 co-anchor and brother of New York York's governor, is leaving ABC to host a new morning show for CNN, reports the Washington Post. Zucker previously got ABC's Jake Tapper to come aboard. The fate of current morning show host Soledad O'Brien is unclear, reports Politico. Managing editor Mark Whitaker has resigned, reports TVNewser.