Still no clear favorite in Tory race

By the time you read this, one of the five candidates remaining since the second round of votes in Britain's Tory leadership race will have been eliminated.

Could it be former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch or foreign affairs select committee chairman Tom Tugendhat?

The race has been exciting so far - but not because there is already a candidate who has won a clear mandate.

To the contrary, no one has yet emerged as a firm favorite as Conservative MPs vote to eliminate the candidates one by one until just two remain.

As a Sky News commentator noted, this race is still wide open even though, normally by this stage, there should be obvious momentum behind one candidate.

Although the leadership contest is far from predictable, it is certainly exciting as well as interesting in a number of ways.

First, "coup initiator" Sajid Javid could not even add his name to the contest list after he failed to meet the minimum needed to be included.

This was a massive shock as he was one the most senior cabinet ministers involved in the party coup.

Javid had served in Boris Johnson's cabinet, first as chancellor and then as health secretary.

Perhaps Javid's Tory colleagues at Westminster were not impressed by the strong words he used against the prime minister in his resignation letter.

Then there was the early ousting of long-time MP Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi in the first round.

Considered China-friendly, Hunt's early defeat in the race may reveal a lack of appetite for China in the Conservative Party right now.

Zahawi's quick fall was expected as he reportedly forced Johnson to quit just a day after Johnson named him as chancellor. Zahawi's swift about-face raised eyebrows.

Numerically, former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt held the top two spots after the second round.

But it was clear from the second debate on ITV that it is more likely a race between Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who traded the most fierce exchanges with each other.

Contrary to expectations, a significant number of Tory MPs back Sunak despite his wife's recent tax and green-card scandals.

Will Sunak and Truss make their way to the final two for the national vote by party members?

It is curious that, after their fierce exchange on ITV, both Sunak and Truss refused to join the third and final debate on Sky, forcing it to cancel tonight's event.

Perhaps they both wanted to limit any damage caused after shocking TV viewers during the second debate.

Meanwhile, it's worth mentioning that dark-horse Tugendhat impressed TV viewers the most during the first debate on Channel 4, with the Independent newspaper calling him the clear winner of the debate, citing an Opinium poll of 1,159 viewers.

A total of 36 percent thought Tugendhat performed the best - a big nine points ahead of Sunak.

If Tugendhat was relatively unknown to the British people before, he is now well known to them.

Even if he failed to make it to the final two, he will likely win a role in the next cabinet.