Not long til the elimination...

So who will it be? I guess the best way to figure this one out is to start with who it won't be:

Jordin Sparks - That girl can sing her butt off - wow, I'm channeling Paula. She must be good.
Melinda Doolittle - I really thought she'd have trouble this week, but instead she surprised me. Great job.

Now, who's in the "Maybe yes, maybe no" category?

Blake Lewis - He's been great until now, but honestly that was a pitchy performance. I was not impressed.
Phil Stacey - An amazing performance, but after so many lackluster weeks, will it be enough? Hard to say - depends on how long the memory of the audience really is.

And finally - the DANGER ZONE!

Lakisha Jones - Yipes, shouty, cold and lately her tag line at the end is becoming predictable and oh-so boring. She just doesn't take advice or direction well, and it's beginning to hurt her - singing a Carrie Underwood song was a very bad idea.
Sanjaya Malakar - I love my papaya but this was a darned bad week. It remains to be seen if his charisma can carry the day - whatever happens I'll be pulling for the underdog (as usual.)
Chris Richardson - Nasally (which in country can be forgivable) but snapping back at Simon over it might have been a mistake. The song actually started decent for me, then got progressively worse. Hard to say for sure.

All that said, who do I think will go? After a bottom three of Sanjaya, Lakisha and Chris, I think Lakisha will be the surprise vote out (remember, we haven't had our "shocker" episode yet!) My second choice "shocker" would be Sanjaya - with so many people pulling for him, and in the technically weakest position, his vote out might also be a surprise.

We'll see tonight how it goes. Get that popcorn out!