Politics / O: A Presidential Novel And the Author of O: A Presidential Novel Is... ...Mark Salter! By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff Posted Jan 27, 2011 9:29 AM CST Copied Mark Salter, left, and Greg Wendt, senior advisers to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talk as they arrive with McCain in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) The anonymous author of O: A Presidential Novel didn’t stay anonymous for long: It’s none other than McCain speechwriter Mark Salter, sources confirm to Time. Page Six had previously guessed Salter could be the author, and there were some hints, writes Mark Halperin: Salter “has been holed up in Maine,” publisher Jonathan Karp had previously worked with Salter (and the descriptions he gave of the author matched Salter), there’s a story in the book that only a McCain campaign insider could have known, and “Salter's non-denial denial was the closest to a confession of any suspect who was publicly asked.” Click for a review of the book. (More O: A Presidential Novel stories.) Report an error