October 21, 2005

Sen Jon Corzine and Doug Forrester have spent tens of millions of dollars promoting themselves for governor and attacking each other, but New Jersey voters express little confidence that either can solve problems of soaring property taxes and government corruption; voters responding to New York Times Poll express disgust at caustic tone of campaign and expect insiders will continue to have undue influence no matter who wins; Corzine leads Forrester, 46 to 37 percent among likely voters, but 14 percent are undecided; photo; graphs (M)

China's rapid economic growth has fostered tourist boom among mainland Chinese, with Southeast Asia favorite destination, at least for now; surge in package tour groups from China, important source of income for region, is also giving rise to unflattering stereotype: loud, rude and culturally naive Chinese tourist; photo (M)

Special counsel Patrick J Fitzgerald, weighing criminal charges in CIA leak case, reportedly focuses on whether White House aides Karl Rove and I Lewis Libby sought to conceal their actions and mislead prosecutors; charges could include perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements if evidence shows two sought to cover up their actions concerning name of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson; case casts cloud over Bush White House (M)

Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, vowed Thursday to place his own representative in New York City to work with local authorities in an attempt to have city and federal agencies speak with one voice about any potential terrorist threat. Mr. Chertoff's promise came two weeks after his department and city officials appeared to have very different interpretations of -- and responses to -- information about a possible plot to set off bombs inside the New York subway system.

Those who walk the street on Hooker Lane here in the Cos Cob section of town are people of the L.L. Bean-wearing, exercise-the-dog sort, and they're tired of the giggles and the borscht belt zingers that follow the mere mention of their address. ''When you order something from a catalog, for example, and you give the street, there's snickering, always snickering,'' said Nick Kopeloff, 66, a retired physician and an avid photographer, who has endured 27 years of such reactions.