Admin's node set to published by default?
Assuming Drupal 6.

Define a hook_form_alter function in your custom module and set the '#default_value' of the status element to TRUE. This will only run if the user has the correct permission. This way, nodes can also be unpublished by unticking the 'Published' checkbox.

function mymodule_form_alter(&amp;$form, &amp;$form_state, $form_id) {
    if (user_access('administer nodes')) { // or other permission
        $form['options']['status']['#default_value'] = TRUE;
    }
}


Now your admin's nodes will be automatically published.

Thanks to andy for his comments.