Let’s face it: after four seasons of scouring the nation for talent, American Idol is beginning to scrape the bottom of the bucket. There are only so many people out there who can hold a decent note, after all. So the burning question in the mind of every Washingtonian was not who could deliver the most stirring rendition of “Lady Marmalade” for the 100,000th time, but who would rise from obscurity to replace the voice of the classic, eerily robotic Metro scolder.

This morning, the Post revealed the ten finalists from a staggering pool of 1,259 entries. The competition was obviously going to be stiff.