It's down to the final 2 tonight on American Idol. Wait, tonight? Yes, tonight. Fox doesn't dare miss out on the last night of the spring television season with the ratings bonanza that is the 2 hour season finale, so the performance/voting show has been moved back to Tuesday.

Anyway, the final two are 16 year old country singer Lauren Alaina and 16 year old country singer Scotty McCreery. No, I'm not joking. Two teenage country singers made the finale.

Here's Lauren:

And here's Scotty:

Horribly inappropriate song choices aside, one of these two singers has done enough to win a record contract and the title of the next pop superstar. What's that? They dropped that tagline years ago? All right then.

Lauren appears to have more cross-over potential, which she demonstrated in her audition. She has a great personality (she nicknamed Ryan Seacrest "Peaches" on live television and was never allowed to mention it again) and showed a good bit of range in her initial audition. Unfortunately, it really does feel like she's been coasting for weeks in the contest now. I don't think she's given a spectacular performance yet (beyond her duet with Stephen Tyler in the audition). Unless she really turns it out tonight, she's in trouble.

Scotty I've never gotten the appeal of. He's a teenage bass who doesn't quite appear comfortable onstage yet. He pulls his face and flashes his cross a lot. I think there's potential here for a straight-forward country act but I'm not seeing the cross-over appeal. If he gets some good vocal coaching and the right team behind him, he could have a good recording career. I'm pretty sure, judging by the fact that three white guys who play guitar have won the show in a row (David Cooke, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze), Scotty has to be the favorite to win right now.

There are other signs pointing to this. Dial Idol, the less accurate than ever voting prediction/power-dialing software, has consistently had Scotty at the top of their measured phone voting charts. The judges constantly heap praise on Scotty for his consistency and willingness to take critique. The show also admitted a few weeks ago that Scotty has never been in the bottom two; Lauren has genuinely been there to the point that she looked like she was going to have a nervous breakdown onstage a few weeks ago.

And if you believe the wacky conspiracy theories, Kristy Lee Cook demands Scotty McCreery win the show. Since Kristy was eliminated in season 7, every winner has had one of her three names as part of their name: David Cooke, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze. That only leaves the "ty." Scotty McCreery. Need more evidence? His middle name is Cooke. Spooky.

Me? I'm hoping there's some kind of write-in option so Rachel Zevita wins the big prize. That girl was magnificent.

Comments, as always, are welcomed. I only screen out the spambots. Everything else is posted.