Keith Olbermann is working overtime to have people believe that WaPo’s Dana Milbank, a longtime contributor to his MSNBC program, was forced off the network as a result of pressure from Olbermann over a piece Milbank wrote last week satirizing Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential presumptions.

Not so, says Milbank. “I started contract talks with CNN on July 7,” Milbank told Big Head DC this afternoon. “It has nothing to do with last week’s column. I like Keith, and I’m sorry he’s angry about my departure.”

Milbank began appearing on CNN last night on Campbell Brown’s program — the network’s competitor to Olbermann.

“Keith, working ever harder to court his liberal fan base, obviously wants people to believe he was directly involved in Dana’s exit,” a cable TV honcho not affiliated with CNN or MSNBC told BHDC. “The truth is simply that Dana got a much better offer. And Olbermann decided to spin it his way.”