2012 ACM Award for New Artist of the Year – Brantley Gilbert

Brantley Gilbert is the most established act of the three. His fans have a Garth Brooks sort of fever, and they are always willing to show up in large numbers to buy concert tickets, albums and to vote. He's the only of these three artists with a chart-topping single. In fact, it could be argued he has the most complete album of each artist's 2011 releases.

He will win if: Gilbert will give Scotty McCreery a run for his money in terms of fan-voting, but he'll need to launch a Barack Obama-type campaign to unify his fan base and point them towards the voting site: www.VoteACM.com.