OBAMA ON O'REILLY THURSDAY NIGHT

Dept. of Counterprogramming: Obama to appear on O'Reilly Thursday, airing at 8:00pm and repeated at 11:00pm

Barack Obama will appear on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor" Thursday night, a Democratic source tells Politico.

The move is timed to counterprogram John McCain's speech to the Republican National Convention, which is likely to drive Fox's ratings sky-high and to give Obama access to a conservative audience.

It's Obama's first appearance on the widely viewed cable show, and is a sign of what Vanity Fair today reported is a "tentative truce" between Obama and News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch.

Obama clashed with Fox News during the primary after it aired early reports suggesting he had been a Muslim in Indonesia. The relationship warmed in May, however, when he appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and told its host, Chris Wallace, that he was "looking forward" to appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor