November 4, 1981

The Elections The New Jersey gubernatorial contest was the closest one since 1961, with Representative James J. Florio, the Democratic candidate, and Thomas H. Kean, the Republican, running neck and neck. The relatively large turnout showed that Mr. Kean had attracted most of the independent voters, who have been responsible for wide swings in previous Jersey elections. (Page A1, Column 6.) Mayor Koch won a second term in a landslide victory as Democrats swept citywide and boroughwide offices. Mr. Koch, who had both the Democratic and Republican endorsements, and his Democratic running mates, City Council President Carol Bellamy and Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin, overwhelmed their opponents. (A1:3.)

Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., irritated by articles suggesting that he was in disfavor with President Reagan, charged today that a senior White House aide had been waging ''guerrilla warfare'' against him. In taking the unusual step of allowing a State Department spokesman to confirm that he had made such an accusation, Mr. Haig in effect was elevating the issue from the category of a rumor to a concrete problem for the Administration in its management of foreign policy. It has been no secret that friction has existed throughout the past months between Mr. Haig and other members of the Administration, most prominently Richard V. Allen, the White House national security adviser. However, both have publicly denied any friction, and Mr. Allen said today that Mr. Haig had personally assured him that he was not being blamed.

Southbound traffic on the Henry Hudson Parkway was snarled most of yesterday as road work forced autos coming from New Jersey, Westchester and other points into two lanes and then into one lane. The parkway was narrowed as a result of a $30 million state improvement project between 125th and 144th Streets that began Monday. The project is expected to take 32 months, and before it is over work on additional sections of the parkway will begin.

FRANCE still has regions where one can drive for hours and not pass another vehicle. That is true of Quercy, in the southwest, where gently rolling hills are dotted with brilliant fields of sunflowers and where the only signs of life are, as often as not, a few waddling geese or a stray cat. There are few restaurants, and no one has ever heard of a fast-food croissant shop. It is an agricultural area and its farm families partake of solid peasant food that is rustic, abundant and strongly influenced by the Arabs, who for nearly 800 years held substantial portions of Spain just beyond the Pyrenees and left traces of their presence in all phases of the culture. One sees it in native dishes like the tourtiere, which is a not-too-distant cousin of baklava, and in the cassoulet, a blend of beans and sausages and preserved meats that, it has been suggested, is simply an adaptation of the Arab fava bean and mutton stew. The fertile soil easily provides the essentials for the wellfurnished Quercy table: corn-fed geese and ducks to be preserved as confits and to supply the liver for foie gras, prunes for preserving in eau-de-vie, wild mushrooms and truffles for holiday meals and grapes for the table as well as the coarse red vin du pays.

Two muggers who fatally shot a young resident surgeon just a block from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center were the object yesterday of a wide police search. The victim, Dr. John Chase Wood Jr., was accosted Monday night near the intersection of 165th Street and Riverside Drive as he was returning from his home to Presbyterian Hospital after his dinner break. The flag was lowered to half-staff at the hospital, where his stunned colleagues described the 31-year-old victim as an outstanding doctor, a gifted muscian and a spirited rugby player. He was, one doctor said, ''a nearly perfect person,'' smart, talented, modest and as ''handsome as a movie star.''