The Anti-Bush Anchor

And that's not counting his "Worst Person in the World" award to former first lady Barbara Bush for making a Katrina donation earmarked for software programs sold to Houston schools by her son, Neil.

In 2003, when Olbermann questioned whether the Pentagon had hyped the Jessica Lynch rescue, "management was flooded with complaints to the point that I had to put on a clarification the next day," he says. "Three years ago you had to apologize for being at all critical of anything."

These days, he recently told C-SPAN, there are executives at NBC and parent company General Electric "who do not like to see the current presidential administration criticized at all." But Olbermann says he's gotten no interference: "If my reading Marx every night got them great ratings, they'd be happy with that."

"Countdown" is still in third place among the cable news networks -- Fox's "O'Reilly Factor" dominated the first quarter, with 2.26 million viewers, followed by CNN's Paula Zahn with 632,000 and Olbermann with 404,000. But the MSNBC show boasts of a 41 percent jump over last year among viewers age 25 to 54, edging CNN in that category.

"Keith's show is the best show on television, period -- interesting, edgy and really well written," says MSNBC President Rick Kaplan. He says Olbermann is "incredibly aggressive" toward anyone in power: "In the same way that people who think the president needs to be supported more have turned to Fox, a lot of people who think the president needs to be taken on more have found a friendly voice in 'Countdown.' "

NBC News President Steve Capus says "there's no question he's stepped up his opinionated discussions, but the audience is smart enough to know what is straight news reporting and what is opinion-driven talk."

Olbermann, who moonlights on ESPN radio, also fills his program with skits like "Puppet Theater" and tabloidy "Oddball" items. Last week he interviewed Michael Schiavo, whose late wife's coma triggered a media frenzy.

Olbermann loves to pick fights. He has repeatedly baited O'Reilly, then gleefully replayed O'Reilly's responses. O'Reilly has put a petition on his Web site, urging NBC to fire Olbermann and replace him with Phil Donahue, who previously occupied the time slot. O'Reilly has also said, without naming him, that Olbermann "cheap shots Fox News on a regular basis" and that "something's very wrong at NBC."

Seizing on any excuse to keep the feud going, Olbermann even interviewed a man who mentioned his name on O'Reilly's radio show, prompting the host to say his phone number would be turned over to Fox security. MSNBC has been running ads about the spat.

"It's like winning the lottery," Olbermann says. "It's such an overreaction . . . He has made me look like a victim."

Liberal bloggers have been praising Olbermann, but one online critic, Robert Cox, recently launched a new site, Olbermann Watch, where a contributor said: "Hello! Earth to Krazy Keith! When was the last time anybody who disagreed with your spin was permitted to sit for an interview with your almightyness?"

Olbermann seems to thrive on controversy. But just in case, he has an exit strategy: "If it gets too hot and I have to get out of the kitchen, I'll go do sports."