Don't Pick X

[Thok]

Billy Joel song (9)
The ____ Files (8)
Early Republican Candidate (7)
Borough (9)

[Suspence]

2) ROCKFORD
4) MANHATTAN
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Thok]

So far both answers are correct.

[Quailman]

PAILNEKS?

Based on Allentown and Lincoln.

[Thok]

One of Quailman's two answers is right, one of those is wrong. I'll let you pick out which is which.

[Suspence]

I assume Allentown is correct. The other could be FREMONT (CA)
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Thok]

You now have all the correct answers.

[Suspence]

ALLENTOWN (PA)
ROCKFORD (IL)
FREMONT (CA)
MANHATTAN (KS)

Reading vertically down the state abbreviations, I get PICK ALAS, which seems to coincide with the puzzle title "Don't Pick X". Not sure if that is correct, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

Just a comment on the puzzle solving process, I actually started this post not having that idea. I was just going to summarize the 4 answers we had to get them all in one place. As I typed it out, I noticed the connection above. As I said in the "Get Better at Solving Puzzles" thread, it always seems to help me when I write/type up what I already have.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Quailman]

If I'm supposed to pick a lass, I'll go with Luna. Or maybe Sami.

[Thok]

ALAS is in fact the correct answer.

This was inspired by a recent Sporcle quiz, when I was surprised that Allentown is the third largest town in Pennsylvania. Three of the for towns are in the top 10 in population in their state, and Fremont's fairly large in population as well.

Also, I originally thought about doing this without word lengths: which is the second reason for "Don't Pick X", since that's the obvious wrong solution to the second clue.