By Aaron Joseph: The Republican establishment has embraced Mitt Romney. Just this past Thursday, Bob Dole, former senator and 1996 Republican nominee that ran and then lost against Bill Clinton, endorsed Mitt Romney. In doing so he said that while Newt Gingrich is very smart, articulate, and a great debater, it would be a disaster if Newt would be president. When asked during that interview if Newt Gingrich can win the presidential election, Bob Dole replied simply, “I hope not!”

This last reply of “I hope not!” has gotten me thinking. Bob Dole is a highly intelligent man. He has been around the “high-wire” of national politics now for nearly 40 years. He served together in the Congress with Newt Gingrich, and even had nice words to describe the man. So exactly what is it that people like Bob Dole don’t exactly like about Newt Gingrich?

So far, as of the end of January 2012, Mitt Romney has received by far the most endorsements from rank and file Republicans, as any candidate in recent memory. The entire Republican machinery is collocating around Mitt Romney. Is this because they want to out of their true preference for the man, and they truly like what Mitt Romney says and represents? Or, is it because they fear something about Mr. Gingrich. Mr. Doles words “I hope not,” provide a small harbinger of the nature of these sentiments, of what the true message of the Republican Machinery endorsements tell us.

Thus far Mitt Romney has received 60 endorsements from members of Congress; 15 Senators and 45 Congressmen. 6 Governors and another 30+ state wide officials of various states have also endorsed this one term former Governor of Massachusetts. Former President George H. W. Bush and nearly 100 former senators and other officials endorsed him too. All together Mitt Romney has nearly 1,100 endorsements already. That’s 1,100!

This is not to say that the other candidates running do not have any endorsements. Newt Gingrich has nearly 80, (e-i-g-h-t-y) including the Tea Party, and Ronald Reagan’s son, Michael, a respectable person in his own right. Yet in comparison to the formidable endorsement numbers Mitt Romney has already received, their numbers are negligible.

The Republican rank and file establishment fears a Gingrich presidency. But why?

I believe Newt Gingrich is the “real” change that has eluded American politics of recent. His political record proves this through and through, and his amazing “Contract with America” that he introduced during the 1990’s and the Clinton presidency, and got through Congress while he was Speaker of the House, seals in permanence his political leadership ability and noble accountability. This Contract with America, even forced President Clinton to go along. And mind you, Clinton was a polarizing man in his own right.

Newt Gingrich has thoroughly proven that he can get things done, even changed. The Republican establishment knows this and fears this. Because in the final analysis, what would change mean for them, the Republican establishment? Newt can change the establishment and status quo. Those secure as they are- don’t want this. So they endorse Romney.

With each and every endorsement that Mitt Romney receives, Newt Gingrich receives one as well. Newt receives the endorsement of silence from the establishment, by not being endorsed. Newt becomes more and more, the non-establishment guy- the non political usual, or Washington insider. In fact, the more the insiders endorse Romney, the more Newt becomes endeared to the Washington and political outsider.

So this huge discrepancy in numbers speaks volumes far louder then any endorsement that Mitt Romney has picked up. In fact, the endorsement discrepancy endorses Newt Gingrich.