What part of "sounds the most conservative of the top five" are you having trouble with?
If Rush endorsed Hunter he still would go nowhere, because if he could win he would have gone somewhere by now.
No one has offered a valid reason for why Hunter is ignored given the other choices. I not one inclined toward conspiracy theories, but the fact that the post-debate coverage all but omitted the Hunter's response to the Gay General's question -- which was given to Duncan Hunter, not one of the others -- is quite, quite telling. This is esp. so when one considers the coverage the 30-second secondary responses by Romney and Huck. How does the Duncan Hunter campaign control what the MSM chooses to cover? They can't.
I believe the very fact that the question was directed specifically to Hunter - and not to one of the tier-one guys - says something as well...