Raising a Toast to TV's Top Civil Servants

The people have spoken: America's favorite make-believe civil servant is CIA agent Sydney Bristow of "Alias"!

This, after a surprise upset in the Council for Excellence in Government's landmark and shamelessly unscientific online election in which citizens were asked to vote for their "favorite TV fed." Through Friday, poll watchers had expected an easy victory for C.J. Cregg , the efficient chief of staff of "The West Wing," from a field that also included Jack Bauer of "24," FBI psychiatrist George Huang from "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and FBI investigator Vivian Johnson from "Without a Trace."

But in the final hours of voting, the hottie wig-wearing spook squeaked past the wry, pantsuit-wearing Democrat by less than a percentage point, for a total of 29.6 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, in the race for favorite fictional president, voters gave an easy victory to "The West Wing's" Josiah Bartlet , with 38 percent. (We think America must still have race issues if it turned its back on a candidate as noble and inspiring and terribly handsome as "24's" David Palmer . . . or was it the crazy ex-wife problem?) Mackenzie Allen of "Commander in Chief" came in second.

Voters narrowly chose the investigators of the "CSI" franchises over those of "Law & Order" as best crime-solvers, but chose Cliff Clavin of "Cheers" as best mailman by a wide margin over Newman of "Seinfeld."

So what happened? "There was a youth surge," speculated the council's Carl Fillichio , noting a big turnout in the 18-24 bracket that, like, can barely be bothered to vote for real. Of the 3,100 votes, more than 10 percent came from George Washington University e-mail addresses.

Huh. Interesting priorities. Fillichio sees it as a good thing. "The whole idea is to get people talking about voting. Maybe these kids will use e-mail to remind family and friends to vote" in today's elections.

A Brush and Blow-Dry With Greatness

Jenna Bush entrusted her tresses last week to Toka Salon owner Nuri Yurt.

If the Bush women looked especially well coiffed at last week's White House dinner for Prince Charles and Camilla, their brush with greatness belonged to Toka Salon owner Nuri Yurt , who's been cutting and coloring Laura Bush's hair since January. Yurt and his team spent Wednesday afternoon styling and blow-drying the first lady as well as Jenna, Barbara and Margaret Bush at the White House, former first lady Nancy Reagan and Annette de le Renta at the Hay-Adams hotel, and Maria Tuttle (wife of the U.S. ambassador to Britain) at the downtown salon.

Yes, they paid and tipped, but Yurt wouldn't share how much, or if he heard any juicy tidbits about lunch with the Duchess of Cornwall. The tease.

HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?

Stephen Colbert , at an outdoor table at a Cosi sandwich shop on Capitol Hill -- probably on a break from taping his "435-part series" on congressional districts -- marveling over a high-tech dictation device with an assistant from his new Comedy Central show.

TV actress Katherine Heigl (the younger and blonder of the two young, blond medical interns on "Grey's Anatomy"), cheering on sensitive singer-songwriter Josh Kelley during his 9:30 club show Sunday. They started dating after she starred in one of his videos, or so say the kids at Mtv.com.

SURREAL ESTATE

Seller: Michael Brown

Asking Price: $829,000

Details: Looks like the former FEMA director is finally doing something in a hurry! His three-story, four-bedroom townhouse in Alexandria's Cameron Station is for sale, and Brownie's doing a heckuva job marketing the place: "THE OWNERS WANT A SERIOUS, ACCEPTABLE CONTRACT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!" according to the listing. No word on where Brown is going, but he'll pocket about $300,000 -- he bought the place for $499,900 in 2002.

Quote

"I'm 43 . . . but can I be 40?"

-- Actress Jasmine Guy flirting up reporter Hamil Harris as he sought to get her age on the record as she hosted this weekend's Washington Post Music and Dance Scholarship Awards.

The Reliable Source appears Tuesday through Friday and on Sunday; Web chat is at noon Wednesdays. Got a tip? Send it toreliablesource@washpost.com.