Time’s Klein says he didn’t write anonymous Obama novel

There's a new Anonymous out there.

Simon & Schuster plans to publish "O: A Presidential Novel" in a few weeks under that moniker, raising the question of which political insider is behind the book.

Political Wire's Taegan Goddard questioned today whether Time's Joe Klein — who famously penned the thinly veiled Bill Clinton campaign novel "Primary Colors" as Anonymous — might also be Anonymous this time around. The Daily Beast asked the same question in a piece published late Sunday night on 2011's most anticipated books.

"I absolutely support the right of whomever wrote this to remain anonymous," Klein told The Cutline in an email.

Such a response would inevitably keep the rumor mill churning. But Klein, in a subsequent email, was adamant that he's not the author: "I absolutely deny writing it, have no idea who did, have no idea what's in it," he said.

Still, before ruling Klein out as a suspect, it's worth remembering that he also denied writing "Primary Colors" for some time.

For now, Anonymous remains anonymous.

(Photo of Klein at a July 1996 news conference, where he confessed to writing "Primary Colors": AP/Bebeto Matthews)