Readers: Adam Lambert wins "Idol"

Readers of "Sean's Space" — more than 3,300 of you! — have voted and it's pretty clear you think Adam Lambert will win Season 8 of "American Idol" tonight.

About a month ago, when there were still five finalists left in contention, I posted a poll (here to the right) asking readers to vote and predict who they thought would be crowned this year's "Idol" champ. Adam took a quick and commanding lead in the voting, though Kris Allen gained a little ground in the last week when Danny Gokey was kicked off the show, leaving Kris and Adam (seen here in these publicity shots released by Fox) to battle it out for the top prize. At times, Adam has held as much as a 4-to-1 lead over Kris, who inched closer over the past few days to slightly narrow the gap.

Needless to say, the voting was very heated, with each singer's supporters fans showing their support.
The final poll results: Adam received 2,278 votes, compared to the 745 votes that Kris garnered.

Should the "Sean's Space" readers' predictons be correct and Adam is indeed victorious (we'll find out around 10 p.m. Eastern), that doesn't necessarily spell doom for Kris.

If we've learned nothing else from "Idol" seasons past, not winning the championship isn't a career ender. Most notably, Clay Aiken fell just short of beating out Ruben Studdard for the championship in Season 2, and he's gone on to become more successful than most of the winners, including Ruben himself. Chris Daughtry didn't even make it to the final two — he finished fourth in Season 5 — and he's also gone on to become a big star. Hear that, Danny? You can do it, too!

Recent history, though, suggests Lambert will walk away from Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre as the newest Idol.

As you can see here in last season's poll, "Sean's Space" readers were right on the money when, by more than a 3-to-2 margin, they voted for David Cook as the Season 7 "American Idol" champ. Since then, Cook's been touring the country, including his show here in Poughkeepsie back in March. Last year's vote, though, was much closer than this season's, as many have picked Adam as the Season 8 front-runner for weeks.

But what are you doing reading this?! Tune in to Fox now and see if/when Adam wins. And if he is new "Idol," remember where you read it first!