Another Wednesday, another American Idol recaplet and handicapping.

The third group of eight semifinalists was much different from the first and second, in that there were no truly stand-out competitors and no truly mockable ones, either. The group as a whole brought a high meh rating, even though they seemed to think of themselves as pretty hot stuff.

That declaration was made by Equoia, who was the best singer of the night. Sadly, not much which passed before her performance (or afterwards) would back it up. That being said, there's a pretty tight race for the other finals spot, as there was not much difference among the other seven.

Having said that, I'm discounting Kimberly Kelsey (yes, another Kimberly- is there one for every semifinal group? Sadly, no.), George, and Louis off the bat. Just as some animals are more equal than others, some contestants were more lame than others. I will second Cooch on the notion that there's something about Louis that isn't quite right. It could be youthful exuberance; he is just 17. Could be some burgeoning mouthiness. Who knows?

That leaves four contestants - Rickey, Jordan, Vanessa, and Samantha - who were all about as good as each other. Vanessa is part of the unskinny, big voiced sisterhood, and may wind up getting the spot in memory of Frenchie. Samantha fits into the faux-soul tramp position that Julia has as a finalist, and it would be a shame to have the two of them fighting for the same niche (unless Jell-o is involved). Jordan and Rickey are pretty similar to every other male contestant, trying to wring as much soul out of songs as possible. I'm leaning towards Rickey, as the producers have worked to make him a favorite (more face time, including his Nutty Professor-themed outbursts) and he did tackle a Brian McKnight song which may have been better left untackled. When in doubt, reward the person who was able to push themselves without sounding ridiculous (hereby dubbed the Smith-Fuentes Law).

So I'll go with Equoia and Rickey, with Vanessa coming in third. Don't be surprised if those last two change positions.

In other news, I'm kind of confused at how, after a four day weekend, I am this tired on my return to work. I didn't get the best night of sleep last night, but it's not like I did anything. Heck, there was a goodly span where I didn't even leave the apartment other than to sweep out the deck and back walkway (not having a proper shovel, not being able to find our improper shovel, and using the light and fluffy quality of the snow to my advantage). Last night's added snow wound up being brief and not much to worry about.

I'm also a bit confused about the burgeoning field for the 2004 Democratic presidential primary. On top of the six already in the race (Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman, Dean, Gephardt, and - yikes! - Al Sharpton), it looks like we're getting US Rep Dennis Kucinich and former US Senator from Illinois Carol Moseley-Braun. Kucinich led Cleveland into default in 1978, making me think he's less the FDR Democrat he calls himself as much as he is a neo-Hooverite. Moseley-Braun had a pretty challenging term as a senator, from allegations of an improper loan from her campaign to a visit with a Nigerian strongman. She did get to ride out Clinton's term as ambassador to New Zealand, which is pretty cool.

And the field may just keep growing, with overtures from Joe Biden, Gary Hart, Bob Graham, and Chris Dodd. Heck, I'll be 35 when Inauguration Day rolls around. Hmm...

In any case, as much as I like the idea of a big field with lots of variety, there's a point to which this gets silly. My personal hope is that someone goes completely off the reservation and decided to take the Reform Party over from Pat Buchanan, forcing Patty-Pat to take over the US Taxpayer's Party or something. My alternate idea would be someone finally giving the Green Party a candidate with campaign experience, but my fear is that it'd be Sharpton. Everyone else is too ensconsed in the Democratic party.

I suppose it'll make fun TV.