Joe Klein is a senior writer at TIME magazine and a regular contributor to Paula Zahn Now on CNN. His weekly TIME's column, "In the Arena," covers national and international affairs. In 2004 he won the National Headliner Award for best magazine column.

Prior to TIME, Klein joined The New Yorker in December of 1996 as Washington correspondent; he eventually became a Writer at Large, addressing events in our nation's capital and abroad. Mr. Klein came to The New Yorker from Newsweek, where he served for four years as a political reporter and columnist. He joined Newsweek during the 1992 Presidential race, and his column, "Public Lives," addressed both national and international affairs. In 1994 he received a National Headliner Award for "Public Lives." His Newsweek reporting also helped the magazine earn a National Magazine Award for Best Single-Topic Issue (on Bill Clinton's 1992 victory).

As "Anonymous," Mr. Klein was the author of the critically-acclaimed novel Primary Colors, which was inspired by the 1992 Presidential race. Primary Colors spent 25 weeks on the The New York Times Best Sellers list -- nine of them at the number one spot. The paperback edition of the book, published in the fall of 1996, was also a national bestseller. His follow-up political novel was The Running Mate.

Klein's latest book, The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton (March 2002), gives a definitive analysis of what happened and why during the Clinton years.

Mr. Klein has been a consultant for CBS News and provided commentary on American politics for various broadcasts from 1992 until July of 1997. He now appears frequently on Meet the Press and The Chris Matthews Show.

From 1987 to 1992, Mr. Klein was political columnist at New York magazine, where he won a number of awards, including the Peter Khiss Award, which honors reporting on New York City government and public affairs, for a series on the 1989 mayoral campaign.

In addition, he has written articles and book reviews for The New Republic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Life, Rolling Stone, and other publications. He is also the author of two nonfiction books, Payback: Five Marines After Vietnam (1984) and Woody Guthrie: A Life (1980).

Joe Klein began his journalism career as a reporter with the Essex County Newspapers in Massachusetts in 1969. In 1972 he worked as a reporter for WGBH-TV in Boston, and from 1972 to 1974 he was a news editor at The Real Paper, also in Boston. From 1975 to 1980 he was a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, also serving as its Washington Bureau Chief from 1975 to 1977.

Mr. Klein graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in American civilization. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a former Guggenheim fellow. He lives with his wife and two children in Westchester County, New York, and he is also the father of two adult sons.