Well, it looks like the David vs. David American Idol finale I predicted on Feb. 26 will come to pass.

Not a surprise, although I can't say that any of the final three stood out. David Cook was the bland rocker. David Archuleta was the gaspy teen idol. And Syesha Mercado was positioning herself for a Broadway show.

A little more than a week ago, I suggested that Archuleta might get voted off from the Final 4 -- and while that didn't come to pass, I think his positioning here is still tenuous at best. All indications right now are that David Cook is this year's Idol, which would make him the third male winner of the show and the first rock singer.

Those indications not only include DialIdol voting, which as of midnight had Cook with a large lead over Archuleta. The Kid had a fair lead over Syesha.

However, ZabaSearch suggests Cook would edge Archuleta in a finale, and while their results for this week aren't up, I don't expect that to change.

On the other hand, both Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson are on record as saying the Murray, Utah, teen sensation will come out on top next week. We'll see.

In the back of my brain though, I am growing more and more confident that Mercado will be this year's true winner. Not only did she improve tremendously from the first week of the Final 12 to now, but she's grown increasingly more gorgeous.

Dare I say I have McPheever all over again.

Furthermore, she has a look and a sound that will translate well into mainstream pop radio. Perhaps it's that she's female. Perhaps it's that she's pop. Perhaps it's that she has kind of a Rihanna vibe.

Perhaps it's that she's the most instantly marketable of the three. Again, we'll see.

But she'll almost certainly get her chance to prove it starting Wednesday night when she's eliminated from American Idol.