Ever thought that maybe, just maybe, the south has better singers. Maybe the best talent is from the South and it wouldn't make a rat's arse what cell phone company you were with. Let's think simply, that's what we do here in the south.

Keep in mind that just because California has 30 million people, doesn't mean that they were all participating in the show. It all depends on how dedicated people are each week to voting. I know people who live in the North who could get through to vote, and others who couldn't. So it's not that it's some southern phone conspiracy...it's the fact that more people use Cingular in the south, so they have more of a chance of voting because they can text message. I don't know of any one of my friends/family that have Cingular here in New York. Either way, no matter where you live, it was hard to get through to vote...and the only way to avoid those busy signals is to text message, which, like this press release, shows that Cingular subscribers are more prominent in the South. Hence, more text messages from the South are coming through.

I wouldnt say the south has the best talent, whatelse is there to do other than singing and cow tipping down there? LOL

Since AT&T Wireless had American Idol before Cingular, this doesn't hold true. The first two winners were when AT&T Wireless had the reigns. AT&T Wireless is based in Washington. The winners should have been from the Pacific Northwest. Besides, both companies are NATIONWIDE providers.

How come Californian McPhee outpolled Chris and then Elliot? Cingular text messaging is more popular outside the south. 90% of the people from the south that wanted to vote could not get through to vote. In regard to the final, California has a population of 30 mil, Alabama 4.4 mil. The population of the southern states combined make up less than 40% of the U.S. population. The southern phone conspiracy is a crock.

If the votes were skewed toward the South, Katherine would not be #2(or #3, #4). I am in the South and like most people, I voted for who I liked and it was Katherine. I could have just as easily pumped up the votes for Katherine. Taylor won not because he was the best singer, or that the votes were skewed, he won because he made his fans smile and found a place in the hearts, Katherine didn't. Also remember that it is the judges that stacked up the lineup with southerners to begin with. Not voters. And the last time I checked. Cingular offers nationwide access and now includes all of ATT's customers. This story just doesn't hold up.

I believe you do have a good point. But, I have to ask...since when did Oklahoma become part of the south? And really Texas for that matter? As a native Oklahoman, I claim myself as a midwesterner, to be exact! :) haha

Your logic seems to tell me that Chris will have no support then..He is from the south and came in 4th..it has nothing to do with Cingular...anyone could go out a buy a GoPhone, just like I did!

Mallory, I never considered Oklahoma a southern state either, but according to the U.S. Census Department, they do! It defines Southern states as Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Delaware, and Maryland. I think this is why there seems to be such a flux of Cingular subscribers, because these states are considered southern, even though I'm not sure they should be- D.C.? Delaware? Maryland? Those seem North to me. Kerri- We'll never know why Chris didn't win. Perhaps it's because Taylor had more fans than Chris did. Or maybe those fans kept voting and voting and just assumed that Chris was safe. These are just theories, not meant to be factual. It's just an interesting look at the voting process.

With everything considered. 1) the show is fixed, 2) voting skewed for the south is wrong, 3) west and east coast people are too lazy to vote, 4) Chris was and is not main street material, 5) American Idol is about pop music, 5) Most Idol fans are young teens who don't mind spending time waiting to get through the phone or can text at an incredible rate, 6) American Idol is a contest based on, believe it or not, popularity (Sp), then talent, 7) McPhee changed her character by showing off lots of skin and then some as the show progressed, thus losing the consertive fan base, 8) Elliot was hanging around because of his mom, 9) Soul Patrol, on the other hand has chrisma (sp) that cannot be disputed.

Is it worth pointing out that last season Carrie Underwood (from questionably southern state Oklahoma) beat out Bo Bice (from definitely southern state Alabama)? Sounds like a conspiratorial crock. Everybody's looking for a reason why their favorite didn't win. If you ask me, I'd say it's because Katharine McPhee is hot, really friggin' hot, gorgeous, and most of the voters for that crap are middle-class, middle-aged women (at least that's my impression), and I'm not a middle-class, middle-aged woman, but if I was I wouldn't vote for that "whore" either.

You've all made really good points. Maybe people are just sore because their favorites didn't win (like me!!). But yes, unfortunately it IS a popularity contest. (Reminds me so much of high school.) I like that these reality shows keep us involved by letting us vote...but maybe there wouldn't be so drama if the judges just picked the winner? Who knows...

Hey yank, we always said the South'll rise again. As to what's "South", well at a minimum you got to include the old Confederacy, which includes Texas. OK's kind of an outlier -- it wasn't a state back then, but it WAS slave-owning territory. But hey, considering how Oklahomans talk, and act, and how many country singers hail from there -- c'mon, they're South. Are you going to tell me Reba McIntyre's NOT a Southerner??

Oklahoma is culturally southern demonstrated by dialect (Okies definitely have a twang), food (fried okra, catfish, grits, pork BBQ, sweet tea), and hobbies. This of course, is due in large part because the territory was mainly settled by southern folks. For example, my dad's family came from Georgia. My mom's family came from Mississippi and North Carolina back in the early 1900s. It could certainly be argued that Oklahoma (and for that matter Texas, Kentucky, or southern Virginia) is not locationally southern. It cracks me up when OK is called midwestern. Compare OK to somewhere like Minnesota, Michigan, or Ohio, which are without a doubt midwestern. Completely different folks and completely different culture. Oklahoma, moreover, is below the Mason-Dixon. As someone already pointed out, OK WAS a slave owning territory (even though not a state during the civil war) with the vast majority of Native American tribes siding with the Confederates. The culture in OK is very similar to Arkansas, most of TX, northern Louisiana, and southern MO such as the Branson area. But I don't buy the fact that Maryland or Delaware could even come close to being southern. Culturally, neither state is southern, but much more northern demonstrated by speech and food. In my opinion, Oklahoma should be considered either southwest, midsouth, or southern plains if it is not part of the South proper. Also, remember that country music has always been dominated (in terms of artists and music writing) on the periphery of the South. For instance, Oklahoma (Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Reba McIntire, Ronnie Dunn from Brooks & Dunn, now Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Joe Don from Rascall Flatts, and many I'm forgetting), and Texas (Willie Nelson, George Strait, tons that I'm forgetting). Kentucky, East Tennessee, southern Virginia, and southern Missouri are where Bluegrass was birthed and still these states still produce most (if not all) Bluegrass artists and music. So what should be the main determiner if a place is southern? My guess is probably culture AND location. OK is 1 out of 2 if that's the criteria. I live on the West Coast now and you would be amazed how many people automatically assume that I'm from the South because of the way I talk. Anyway, that's my two cents.