Lee DeWyze becomes huge favorite to win 'American Idol' thanks to Simon

Lee DeWyze blew away Crystal Bowersox and Casey James on 'American Idol' tonight, with a huge boost from Simon, who chose "Hallelujah" for him to sing.

Simon almost always picks the perfect song for his assigned finalist (see McPhee, Katharine)... in a season marked by ridiculously poor song choices by the contestants, it was nice to see someone sing something that played to their strength.

Kara called it an "epic moment," Ellen said it was "stunning." It was neither -- very good, but not even as good as Jason Castro's version a couple seasons back. Still, on a subpar year it was enough to destroy the competition.

Crystal may have been the front-runner most of the first part of the season (although I never thought of her that way); she was second-best again tonight, but on the right night, with the right songs, she could definitely win. Weird she hasn't tapped her own potential.

Casey needed to hit it out of the park to have a chance to make the finals; he didn't, and ain't gonna make it. (Then again, I was SURE Adam Lambert would beat Kris Allen last season....)

Below how I rated each song, put in your two cents in the comments:

1) Lee DeWyze's second song, "Hallelujah" blew the judges away; I thought it was very good, but not great. Still one of the best this year.

2) Lee DeWyze's "Simple Man" was a home run; totally fits his voice, he clearly gets the song -- as Simon says, he "crushed" everyone else with it.

3) Crystal Bowersox's second song, "Maybe I'm Amazed," was a great gift from Ellen; as Kara says, showed off new parts of her voice, with some real power

4) Crystal Bowersox's "Come to My Window" isn't the most original song, but she did a pretty good job with the fan-friendly favorite.

5) Casey James' second song, "Daughters," gave him a chance to go for the women and girls vote, as Kara said; if you like him, you liked it, but no 'wow' factor.

6) Casey James' "Okay, It's Allright With Me" was tepid and boring. Weird, next-to-last week, and he's still making bad song choices.

PHOTOS: Lee, Crystal and Casey go home | "American Idol" final round | "Idol" top 12 party with "Glee" stars

REWIND: See the winners and top finalists from each season of 'American Idol'

MORE: Read all of our other 'American Idol' posts

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