New Jersey governor Chris Christie official bow out of the 2012 presidential race yesterday gave some conservatives a bad case of heartburn.

The current crop of Republican candidates have simply failed to catch the imagination of the electorate and the pundits, critics contend.

One pundit unafraid to read the tea leaves is Bill O'Reilly (and his former colleague Glenn Beck).

Speaking on GBTV (that's Glenn Beck TV to you) O'Reilly opined that Mitt Romney currently has the edge in the race, but he's not exactly enthusiastic about the candidate.

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Romney is 'a very good economics guy, and that might be enough right now,' said O'Reilly in a tone that didn't disguise his lack of interest.

O'Reilly compared Romney to Dwight Eisenhower and claimed that the country now needs someone to fix the economy, not an ideologue who can't or won't compromise on every issue.

'He's basically a moderate Republican who governed in a way that was unobtrusive,' O'Reilly said. 'He wasn't a flashy kind of Obama guy. Romney would be that, but he'd set up an econmic team that would be very effective. That's his biggest advantage right now.'

O'Reilly said Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain had insufficient experience to be Commander in Chief and Rick Santorum, who recently fielded the booing of a gay soldier by saying he would reinstate DADT, was way too ideological for the conservative pundit.

'Rick Perry is a great unknown,' O'Reilly added. 'I have no idea.'

Meanwhile O'Reilly's appearance on GBTV has failed to give the fledgling station the kind of media buzz that Beck - who held a baseball bat throughout the discussion - was clearly after.