It's becoming increasingly obvious with each passing week that Fox News is going to play an unprecedented role in the next presidential campaign cycle, and that a “news” organization is going to be in the business of making campaign news.

As Politico's Ben Smith wrote this week:

Fox is the 800 pound gorilla of campaigning media outlets, and the balance of its goals -- various internal players have competing commercial, political, ratings, and lobbying aims -- may be the best story in contemporary politics and media.

I think it's going to go further than that, as I noted ten months ago:

Looking forward, it's inevitable that during the 2012 GOP Republican primary season, there will be, for the lack of a better term, a Fox News candidate in the field. There will be a far-right darling of the Tea Party movement (cough, cough, Sarah Palin) who has both the official (Limbaugh, Beck, Malkin) and unofficial (Fox News) endorsement of the right-wing media.

What I didn't see coming though, was the dissension within Fox News ranks as various hosts jockey for the limelight and place their own political bets. At the turn of this year, basically the entire Fox News team was openly campaigning for Republican Scott Brown during his special election campaign in Massachusetts. All the Fox News hosts and anchors were singing off the same chorus sheet.

But those all-for-one days may be over. Just look at Delaware and the candidacy of Christine O'Donnell and how it exposed the Fox News fault lines that may become more pronounced in coming weeks and months. And guess what, the lines are driven by ego.

In other words, Bill O'Reilly really does not like to be snubbed.

And make no mistake O'Donnell has snubbed him. It's true she made the most headlines when she recently snubbed Chris Wallace and walked out of her planned appearance on Fox News Sunday, but don't lose sight of the fact that O'Reilly has been very upfront about the fact he wants O'Donnell on his show but has been refused. Worse? She's appeared twice on Sean Hannity's show.

O'Reilly's response? To throw a couple darts Hannity's way, suggesting (accurately) that O'Donnell only wanted softball questions posted to her during her visits to Fox News. Read: I'm the big leagues, Hannity is not.

Like I said, this is all new territory for Fox News. Yes, as Politico recently noted, it's going to be awkward to have potential GOP candidates, like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, on the Rupert Murdoch payroll for months leading up to the campaign season, which raises all sorts of ethical questions. But what's even more pressing, I think, is the unprecedented king-making role of the Fox News hosts, and the fact that they and their clashing egos are not always going to agree on who should be crowned king.

Stay tuned.