POTUS fever has gripped the ranks of the Australian press pack who are in frantic negotiations to snag an interview with the leader of the free world during his 24-hour stopover next week, despite a lingering chance the visit will be nixed, and an apparent slapdown from the US Embassy.

Newsroom chiefs across the country are hammering their White House contacts in the hope one of their brethren could “do a Speers” and snag political journalism’s biggest prize.

ABC North American correspondent Lisa Millar, tweeting from Washington before heading off to the 66th Annual Radio & TV Correspondents dinner with second-stringer Joe Biden, said the dueling for a face-to-face yak with Obama was fierce:

“Extraordinary jockeying going on with Asian and Australia media to get an interview with Prez O before he leaves. ABC doing what we can.”

Another senior broadcast media insider confirmed the mounting frenzy:

“Everyone is trying…you’ve got to be in it to win it.”

Millar said there was an option for a mid-flight head-to-head on Air Force One, although according to a follow-up Tweet directed at US-based Left/Right Thinktank head Thom Woodroofe, the stratospheric cost of the ticket was beyond Aunty’s meagre budget.

“Price was too high for us. Got to be sensible with our dollars. Anyway, I’m still not convinced he’ll even make it.”

Crikey understands that the cost of a mile high tete-a-tete is well in excess of a regular first class ticket, with the cost split among the inner circle of hacks embedded with the President. Millar’s bosses could have been looking at a bill in excess of $20,000 for their trouble.

A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Canberra told Crikey that all requests for interviews from local media were submitted through the Canberra Embassy and then forwarded on to the White House, who would make the final call.

But the spokesperson said the prospects of a one-on-one chat was only an outside possibility.

“From the indications I’ve had there will be no one-on-ones, either in Washington or in Australia,” the spokesperson said. The media would still get a chance to grill the President at a press conference in Indonesia.

The spokesperson said that there was always the possibility of an individual news organisation working something out directly with the White House, however the declarations appears to cruel the hopes of local journos to follow in Sky News political editor David Speers’ hallowed footsteps.

Before the last US Presidential visit in 2007, Speers, described as “a freak who lives and breaths politics” emerged with the prize, securing an exclusive one-on-one yarn with George W Bush in Washington before the duo hopped on the plane. Sky News boss Angelo Frangopolous didn’t return email queries this morning although sources close to the operation confirmed that Speers was in with a shot at repeating history.

That’s if Obama gets here at all. With healthcare reform a lingering priority, leading members of the US House of Representatives have told the President to abandon the trip and focus on the prize of getting a bill passed. The “holiday” component of the visit, which coincided with Spring Break in the US, has already been wound back with First Lady Michelle Obama and Sasha and Malia told to unpack their bags. As you can read elsewhere in today’s edition, security preparations are already well underway, with radio-controlled planes to be banned from Canberra’s airspace.

Crikey contacted the White House press office for comment but they didn’t get back before deadline. Millar continued to tweet from the correspondent’s dinner, but made no further references to an impending interview.