Obama Smartly “Spins” Into McCain/Palin News Cycle

Senator Barack Obama sits down for a much anticipated interview with Bill O’Reilly for Thursday night’s edition of The O’Reilly Factor. It puts the Democratic presidential nominee on cable TV’s highest rated show just a couple of hours before Senator John McCain accepts the Republican nod to run for the White House.

The Washington Post reports this interview was three months in the making. Obama and his aides met with Fox News officials in New York to smooth over disputes about Fox coverage of the Illinois Senator’s campaign and his views of the cable news channel.

The Post reports “Obama said he would appear on the show (The O’Reilly Factor) before the election. (Fox News Chairman Roger) Ailes says he told the senator that there would be no “embarrassing or underhanded stuff” in the interview and that if he had any overall concerns about Fox’s treatment in the future, he should call Ailes directly.“

Obama probably won’t overwhelm the news cycle Friday with the O’Reilly interview, as Sarah Palin’s selection to join the McCain ticket did on August 29 following Obama’s high profile DNC address.

However, O’Reilly will certainly have some interesting and probably revealing exchanges with Obama and it’s sure to be played extensively on Friday.

Interesting new polling released Thursday on Palin

I try not to get too wrapped up in polling, but Rasmussen Reports is out with some really interesting numbers Thursday morning.

Here are the headlines from their new surveys:

More Than Half of Voters Say Reporters Are Trying to Hurt Palin

39% Say Palin Has Better Experience to be President Than Obama

Obama Leads McCain 47-43 in Pre Speech Polling

Now some details from the Rasmussen Reports polling:

- The polling says 51% of those surveyed think reporters are trying to hurt Sarah Palin with their news coverage, and 24% say those stories make them more likely to vote for McCain.

- 49% say Obama has more experience to be president than the 39% who favor Palin’s credentials. However, when you ask voters - who claim to be independent - Obama’s experience edge over Palin drops to 42% to 37%.

- When you take in voters who say they are leaning towards a candidate, Obama/Joe Biden has a five point lead (50-45) over McCain/Palin. However, those results were based on interviews conducted before Palin’s speech to the RNC.