NEWS LITE\Hanks a lot.

Tom Hanks is America's most popular celeb, according to a study known as "Q" ratings, conducted by Long Island's Marketing Evaluations Inc. Hanks' rating was 61, which results from dividing the percentage of respondents picking each star as their fave by the number of those who know who the star is. Other findings: Michael Jordan is the fave athlete (38), Stephen King (38) the favorite writer. Some surprises: Matthew Perry (48), not Jennifer Aniston (28), is the most popular of the overexposed actors on the "Friends" TV show. (The others: David Schwimmer (38), Courtney Cox (33), Matt LeBlanc (29) and Lisa Kudrow (28). "Seinfeld's" Kramer character, Michael Richards (39), far outscored Jerry Seinfield (30). After Hanks, the most popular movie stars are: Clint Eastwood (50), Robin Williams (48), Mel Gibson (47), Harrison Ford (46) and Sean Connery (44). Meg Ryan scored a 32 while Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts had surprising lows of 28 and 27. Pauley Shore wasn't rated.

If Bob Dole wants it, he has the endorsement of Watergate burglar turned talk show host G. Gordon Liddy.

Liddy believes the only salvation for the United States is the election of a "real Republican adult," namely Dole.

"The majority of Republicans are conservative - there isn't a Rockefeller Republican among them, except for possibly Colin Powell," Liddy said Saturday at the annual convention of an organization of modern-day bounty hunters, formally called the National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents.

The former White House aide spent more than four years in prison for masterminding the 1972 Watergate burglary of the Democratic campaign headquarters.

Cajun cook joins Kosher krowd

Let the bon temps rouler - oy vay! - Paul Prudhomme is going kosher.

The king of Cajun cooking was one of 14 chefs from around the world who created a 14-course banquet Monday in Jerusalem celebrating the city's 3,000th anniversary.

Prudhomme's contribution to the $600-a-plate feast: a veal dish seasoned with the smoky flavors of his native Louisiana.

Prudhomme and his staff took lessons on kosher cooking before flying to Israel, but he said making the change was easier than he had imagined.

Leaving butter and cream out of recipes - Jewish dietary law prohibits mixing meat and milk - was similar to the process he went through when he wrote his low-fat cookbook "Fork in the Road," he said.

"After learning about and starting to understand kosher rules, I thought it made more sense to start from scratch," he said.

Presidential panel quits

The world's most pampered car started rattling Monday while President Clinton was en route to a speaking engagement in New Orleans, and a chrome panel fell off while he was heading out of town.

The No. 1 limousine stopped outside the city and Clinton climbed into a backup car. The limousine, minus the chrome panel next to a wheel, stayed behind.

White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said the rattling started before Clinton arrived for an event at the Port of New Orleans and got louder on the way out of town - just before the panel fell off.

The limousine was being flown back to Washington with the rest of the cars in the presidential fleet.

Again? Kidnap time for Patty Hearst

Patty Hearst's life has been stranger than fiction, and now it's inspiring some.

The heiress/hostage/actress has been cast by quirky filmmaker John Waters in his next movie, the two told the New York Daily News recently.

Waters, a self-described court junkie, attended Hearst's trial on charges of bank robbery during her Symbionese Liberation Army days and has a shelf full of books about her.

Previously he gave her a small part in his film "Serial Mom" as an unseasonably shod juror. The new movie is about a filmmaker from Baltimore - like Waters - who kidnaps his leading lady.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

(1) G. Gordon Liddy Pushing Dole (2) Paul Prudhomme adds a pinch of Louisiana to a Jerusalem banquet. Associated Press