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Whitman up to $163 million, Steve Cooley is leading but somehow portrayed as a victim of Roman Polanski, Ridley-Thomas and Antonovich on the hyping of child deaths, plus Lindsay Lohan sent back to rehab.
- New campaign reports show Meg Whitman's record spending has gone over $163 million. Bee
- AG candidate Steve Cooley is a Republican leading in a heavily Democratic state, yet The Wrap says his political career is the latest victim of Roman Polanski. The Wrap
- Proposition 19, the marijuana initiative, is now trailing badly in a new poll. LAT
- In a season of mailboxes overstuffed with hyperbolic campaign literature, a few mailers stand out this year for their sheer brazenness. DN
- All but overlooked in the new Public Policy Institute of California poll is some intriguing new data that shows a dramatic shift in how people get their political news in the state: web sites and blogs have now left newspapers in the dust as primary sources of such information, says Calbuzz.
- Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Michael D. Antonovich say in an Op-Ed piece that child death stats are being hyped: "the number of children killed by parents, foster parents or relatives acting as guardians have been effectively constant since the 1990s." LAT Op-Ed.
- Few people may have been as affected by the death of state Sen. Jenny Oropeza on Wednesday night as Sharon Weissman, her chief of staff and friend of 38 years. Press-Telegram
- Tribune is expected to file a bankruptcy-exit plan sometime today that could lead to former News Corp. chief Peter Chernin becoming CEO. WSJ
- Scott Collins reconstructs how the BP gift to KCET led to higher dues and the eventual split from PBS. LAT
- Jeremy Oberstein, the communications deputy for Councilman Paul Krekorian, says on Twitter he will be reporting for LAist on the Obama visit to USC.
- Mona Gable writes in defense of Meghan McCain. HuffPost
- Lindsay Lohan, back in court facing a possible jail sentence, was sent back to rehab until Jan. 3.
- Convicted con man Aaron Tonken, out of prison, is now on his second act. LAT