Poll: Pick American Idol's best 8th-place finisher

Today, we continue our polling to determine Idol Chatter's all-time favorite American Idol contestants by focusing on the eighth-place slot. Unlike the seventh-place poll, where Jennifer Hudson easily outshone everyone else who ended their run there, the eighth-place spot boasts many people who remain in the Idol public's eye. Michael Johns and Scott MacIntyre both maintain devoted fan bases. Bucky Covington still has a major-label deal in Nashville, and Jon Peter Lewis provides some of the most clever commentary about the show via his American Nobody web series.

If you ask me, this poll has the possibility of generating a battle on the scale of the sixth-place poll. And if you haven't checked that out recently, you ought to take a look.

While an early surge of voting for Carly Smithson and Kellie Pickler caused Phil Stacey to fall behind, his fans quietly mounted a massive voting counterattack. On Thursday, one of those fans notified Phil that he had taken the lead the poll, which had received more than 48,000 votes. Kellie Pickler supporters have kept pace with Phil's, though. As of Friday morning, the voting total is closing in on 58,000: Phil leads with 50 percent of the votes, followed by Kellie with 43 percent. Meanwhile, Phil is trying to figure out how to convert each of those votes into sales of his Into the Light album.

Remember, you can always vote in the previous polls if you haven't yet. Here are the links:

• Seventh Place

• Sixth Place

• Fifth Place

• Fourth Place

• Third Place

• Second Place

• First Place