There was lots of distress and amazement in the Idol-watching blogosphere after the audience voted Chris Daughtry off the show. Many folks, including Ann Althouse and some of the show's judges, thought Daughtry was the favorite to win it all. I will admit, that after watching some of his performances with Redheadlaw7, I was impressed; that performance of Fuel's Hemorrhage was hot.

Despite his stage presence and rock talent (and the fact that he's a nice guy), I never thought Chris would win. My assumption is that those who vote on American Idol roughly represent those who listen to Top 40 radio (and drive the weekly Billboard chart). And I never thought an authentic rocker, like Chris, could ever win a majority of that audience. While the occasional rock ballad or party song may climb the singles chart, this sort of music is inevitably swamped by catchy (if not also syrupy) pop tunes.

Chris did well so long as his performances were strong, and there were enough remaining contestants to divide up the audience vote. As those left standing dwindled, it was only a matter of time before he was voted off.

Despite his loss, Daughtry will land on his feet. Rumor has it he is going to be the next lead singer of Fuel, because they were so impressed with his performances on the show. Whether or not this pans out, he has a promising rock career ahead of him.