I'm amazed Warlord made it all the way to the end, considering the leader hate in the survivor poll. But I'm sure that's been said before.
Seriously, though, Warlord for the win. They're just such a fun class to play, and there's nothing quite like being able to set up your allies for the best effect. Not to mention that Warlords can dish out a fair chunk of damage.
I did exactly what I said I was going to do: vote warlord until warlord lost OR until the last round. Fighter is definitely my favorite 4e class, but Warlord is such a close second I had to vote for him as long as it didn't matter . . . just to keep him around.
I figure it was either ...
a) The warlord ran out of actions to grant others a free melee basic vote for him.
b) The warlord ran out of buff powers for the voting encounter, and since others take buffs for granted, once there were no more, all his friends flocked to fighter to keep themselves safe
c) fighter started giving out free cookies and action points