How Beck almost didn't get the LAPD job, plus more reaction and politics notes from all over. After the jump.

Los Angeles County election results are here.

  • Departing chief William Bratton's behind-the-scenes lobbying for Charlie Beck almost backfired, and the police commission ranked Beck third among the finalists, the Times' Joel Rubin and Phil Willon report. Michel Moore was the focus of discussions with local leaders in the final days before Beck was announced. LAT
    Plus:
    - Beck tells Tim Rutten he will be all about transparency and reform.
    - The safe choice, but not necessarily the best, says Ron Kaye.
    - "A positive choice," says an editorial in La Opinión
    - The mayor will take Beck to a Town Hall meeting at Van Nuys City Hall at 6 p.m. today.
    - The City Council Public Safety Committee will hold its first confirmation hearing for Beck on Nov. 9.
  • Lt. Gov. John Garamendi won a seat in Congress, creating a vacancy in the state's #2 elected job. Oakland Tribune, plus what happens now.
  • Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is expected to announce she is running against Sen. Barbara Boxer. Register
  • Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr has put out the word that he's not a candidate for governor. SF Chronicle
  • Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took far more campaign money than any state politician in the nation from lenders that were involved in the subprime lending industry between 2004 and 2008, says a review by Consumer Attorneys spokesman Dan Morain for the nonpartisan National Institute of Money and State Politics. Site
  • Supervisor Don Knabe is webcasting his annual State of the County speech from the Long Beach Convention Center at 12:30 p.m. Site.
  • Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla was shot in the leg, accidentally apparently, either by himself or a bodyguard in Nicaragua. Diamond Notes
  • The L.A. police commission voted to sever ties with the Explorer Boy Scouts program. LGBT POV
  • Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald T. Sterling and his wife, Rochelle, agreed to pay more than $2.7 million over allegations that they discriminated against African Americans, Latinos and families with children at their apartment buildings. LAT
  • Inside the Wall Street Journal's plan to start a local news edition in New York, to compete with the New York Times. NYO
  • The Center for Investigative Reporting and FRONTLINE/World launched “Carbon Watch,” called "an investigative collaboration that will track the evolving, soon-to-be trillion-dollar global carbon market." Website
  • The family pf Burbank police officer Neil Thomas Gunn Sr. blamed his suicide on retaliation by the chief of police and the department. LAT
  • The Glendale News-Press unveiled a redesign, to be followed by the Burbank Leader and La Cañada Valley Sun. The 818 Now
  • In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent $100 million of his own money to be reelected to a third term with just 51% of the vote. NYT
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