Bill O’Reilly: Chris Christie shouldn’t run for president

Republicans across the country are begging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to run for president, but Bill O'Reilly is not one of them.

The Fox News host said Tuesday that the first-term governor should steer clear of the 2012 campaign because he's not ready for the Oval Office. "It would be wiser for him to really establish himself in New Jersey because he hasn't been there very long," O'Reilly said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

O'Reilly noted the temptation and pressure Christie faces from Republican supporters, but said if Christie were to enter the race now, he would have to play logistical catch-up raising money and organizing. "I don't know the governor, but just a tactical thing, it would be wiser to sit back for a while. He's got some time," O'Reilly said, adding that he doesn't think Christie will get in the race.

Watch the interview below via ABC:

Christie has repeatedly said he has no intention of running for president, and those close to him continue to deny he's interested in the nation's top spot. But that hasn't stopped the speculation.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that a group of wealthy Republican donors continues to urge Christie to run and that the pressure on Christie has increased in the wake of stumbles by Rick Perry, the Texas governor who formally entered the race in August.

Thomas H. Kean, an informal Christie adviser and a former governor of New Jersey, sparked a new round of speculation regarding Christie's thought-process when he told National Review Online on Monday that Christie is "very seriously" considering a presidential bid.

"It's real," Kean said. "He's giving it a lot of thought. I think the odds are a lot better now than they were a couple weeks ago."

But Christie's brother Todd Christie told the Star-Ledger today that Kean's speculation is wrong. "I'm sure that he's not going to run," he said of his brother. "If he's lying to me, I'll be as stunned as I've ever been in my life."

Christie is scheduled Tuesday evening to speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on American exceptionalism and Reagan's legacy. Given the campaign-style subject matter at a campaign-style venue, the event is being closely monitored for clues to Christie's plans.

O'Reilly suggested that the interest in a Christie presidential campaign is most likely due to dissatisfaction with the current Republican field, and that Christie's support would dissipate if he actually entered the race.

Conservative activists were clamoring for Rick Perry to run, O'Reilly noted, but now that Perry is in, those same supporters say, "He's not so good."