I made it through "O: A Presidential Novel" last night, a quick read because the publisher vastly oversold its insight into presidential character and undersold the degree to which it's a fast, well-plotted bit of campaign fiction, an honorable genre, bogged down only at times by too much campaign detail. You get the sense the author read "Game Change," not "What It Takes", before sitting down to write, and while "O" doesn't reach the depth of either nonfiction book, it takes the former's pace. 
 
 But its real calling card is the author's anonymity, and there's some fun to be had on those terms. For one thing, the author has a real grasp of campaigns -- but mostly as far as campaigns' relations with the press go, which suggests the author's either a political reporter or a press staffer of some sort. There's a newsroom based on POLITICO, but the surly, micro-managing editor there seems to be based on another, specific person whom I can't place. The author also has a solid grasp of Obamaland, with the obvious characters like David Axelrod (Avi Samuelson) sketched clearly, and another character, who seems to be a composite of people I can guess at, in the role of a spurned but loyal Chicago Obama protege. 
 
 Two other specific data points: 
 
 -The author really doesn't like Arianna Huffington. The author seems to have had more fun writing her stand-in, Bianca Stefani, than anyone else in the book. A former "courtesan to the wealthy and powerful" she's "infamously changeable" and disloyal, with just "one abiding passion: her own notoriety." 
 
 -A character's mother has a bone marrow disease called myelodysplastic syndrome, a fairly specific choice. 
 
 That's not all that much to go on, but then the book doesn't reveal all that much. Check out Ron Charles' lovely Washington Post review for more, and let me know if you spot more clues. ||||| The mystery author has set "O: A Presidential Novel" during the "presidential election of 2012" and mixes fact with fiction. Amazon 
 
 W 
 
 ashington is abuzz with rumors about O, a speculative novel about the Obama presidency penned by "Anonymous." Publisher Simon & Schuster says only that the shadowy scribe has "been in the room with Barack Obama" and has "spent years observing politics." Set in the future during the 2012 presidential election, the 368-page novel is said to mix fiction with reality — much like "Primary Colors," the 1996 novel about Bill Clinton published anonymously by journalist Joe Klein. Beltway pundits are desperate to identify the mystery author before the novel hits shelves later this month. Who are the frontrunners? 
 
 
 
 1. Joe Klein 
 
 Could Klein, now a columnist at Time, have played the same trick again? asks Lloyd Grove at The Daily Beast. Klein says he didn't: "You get to do that only once in a lifetime, I think." Uh, the last time Klein "vehemently denied his involvement" in an anonymous political novel, says Juli Weiner at Vanity Fair, "it turned out he did write [it]." Why believe him now? 
 
 
 
 2. Robert Gibbs 
 
 On the other hand, the publishers' description of the author "fits Gibbs to a T," says Grove, and it is "at minimum, an intriguing coincidence" that the White House press secretary chose to resign just a few weeks before the book's publication. That said, Gibbs has been "rather busy" over the last two years, and "literary flair" isn't his strong suit. 
 
 3. Rahm Emanuel 
 
 While "the smart money is on Klein, the optimistic money is on former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel," says The Guardian, though "Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert" are also possibilities. Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck? Less likely. 
 
 
 
 4. Ben Smith 
 
 Politico correspondent Ben Smith has been leading a hunt for the anonymous author on his blog, where he and colleague Byron Tau have gathered denials from, among others, Bill Ayers, David Axelrod, David Plouffe, former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, and New York Times columnist David Brooks. But what about Smith himself? asks Ben Grossman-Cohen at Aggregate Appeal. He fits the description, and has "publicized the upcoming release on multiple occasions." Sorry, responds Smith. "I didn't do it." 
 
 5. President Obama 
 
 Brian Stelter of The New York Times tells Politico that "Obama himself, ever insistent on controlling his narrative... [may have] penned the book." Is it "far-fetched" to think the president — an "established bestselling author" — is responsible? asks Lloyd Grove at The Daily Beast. "Sure. But it's a possibility worth considering." Not if you're White House spokesperson Bill Burton, who declined to comment on the speculation. 
 
 
 
 6. President Obama's teleprompter 
 
 So the author "knows Obama intimately," sums up Prudence at The Prudence Paine Papers, "tells Obama what to do," and "has written for Obama." The answer is obvious, surely? The "TOTUS" — that is, the "teleprompter of the United States." Mystery solved.
– O: A Presidential Novel is not the gossipy bombshell one might have expected of a novel, penned anonymously by an insider, depicting the 2012 Obama campaign, writes Ron Charles for the Washington Post. In fact, it suffers a bit in that the fictionalized Obama and his GOP opponent—a flattering blend of John McCain and Mitt Romney, devoid of demagoguery—are relatively respectful of each other. In a way, the book is "an uncanny response to this month's call for a more civil political discourse." All in all, it's like presidential candidates themselves: Not "as good as you hoped or as bad as you feared." So who wrote it? Ben Smith, writing for Politico, notes that the author clearly knows the mechanics of political campaigns well, but mainly from the standpoint of the press, which suggests either a political reporter or a campaign staffer with experience in PR. Another hint: the author seems to hate Arianna Huffington. Check out the Week for 6 theories on the author's identity.