Hillary Clinton's proposed health care plan is being released today.

Like John Edwards and unlike Obama, her plan will call for mandatory insurance for all Americans.

It will be much more streamlined and less complicated than the plan she introduced while Bill Clinton was President.

For those who are already insured and happy with their plans, there won't be any required changes.

Insurers will be required to provide insurance to everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions.

The plan will provide tax subsidies to individuals and small businesses to help pay for health insurance. Part of the cost will be covered by rolling back some of Bush's tax cuts to those earning more than $250,000 a year.

Update: Here's Gen. Clark's statement.

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In a blogger conference call this morning, Gen. Wesley Clark endorsed Hillary Clinton for President. (Big Tent Democrat and I were both on the call. Be sure to read his separate post on the endorsement.)

Big Tent asked him for thoughts on Hillary's Iraq plan and what he finds attractive about it. Answer: Hillary understands the proper role of the Senate and the executive branch. She's aware of what the power of the Senate is given the current makeup.

She believes we should begin withdrawing forces now. So does he. She believes in diplomacy with all of Iraq's neighbors. She has said there would be no permanent presence of troops in Iraq.

Taylor Marsh asked about Hillary being Commander in Chief. Answer: She'd be great. She's loyal and will be loyal to the armed forces. She's very strong and decisive. She's been to Iraq, Bosnia and other places. He thinks the troops will be very proud of their commander in chief.

Jerome Armstrong: Would he accept the VP nomination? Answer: He hasn't thought anything about that. This is about putting the right person in the White House.

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Hillary Clinton's campaign tonight announced that it will return not only the money Norman Hsu donated to her campaigns, but also the money donated by 260 persons associated with Norman Hsu. The total amounts to $850,000.

Hillary's campaign also will begin conducting background checks on its bundlers.

I hope, as the article says, the background checks are limited to bundlers. Bundlers legally collect money from other persons to donate to campaigns. So long as the bundler doesn't reimburse the donee, it's legal, and all the campaigns have bundlers.

For the individual donor, I think it's important they be allowed to donate to political campaigns, up to the allowed $2,300.00, without fear of a background check. We should encourage former offenders to participate in the electoral process. By providing them an outlet to express their interest, we increase the likelihood they will remain law abiding. Continuing to stigmatize them is not only unfair, but likely to increase recidivism.

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This just in, via Daily Kos, Hillary's new statement on Iraq.

As General Petraeus prepares to testify before Congress next week, it is clear that the increase in U.S. troops in Iraq has simply not led to political reconciliation in Iraq. Rather than continuing the escalation, we must begin the immediate redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq, in order to end this war as soon as possible. I continue to support legislative efforts requiring the Administration to begin to withdraw our troops and to complete the redeployment of combat troops in 2008, and I encourage the Congressional leadership to ensure that we will have an opportunity to vote for such legislation.

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The Wall St. Journal has me seriously rethinking my subscription. Check out this article by Brody Mullins and its baseless attempt to smear Hillary Clinton's Asian contributors.

Shorter version: An American family of Chinese descent in San Francisco, the Paws, contributed to Hillary around the same time as one of her big contributors, Norman Hsu, who now lives in New York.

Not only is there nothing wrong with that as big fund-raisers often ask people to make contributions around the same time they are contributing, but the Journal admits:

There is no public record or indication Mr. Hsu reimbursed the Paw family for their political contributions. (my emphasis.)

Not only that, but The Journal acknowledges the Paw family and Norman Hsu gave to other candidates as well. If you check campaign records, you will see Mr. Hsu has donated to Barack Obama, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, and that the Paw family has contributed thousands to an Obama's PAC.

Plus, the Journal insisted on running the piece in the face of factual denials from all involved.

This is a hurtful, non-story with a smear factor and the Journal should be taken to task for publishing it.

But enough of my interpretation. Here is the statement from well-respected, prominent lawyer Lawrence Barcella,who is representing Norman Hsu.

Statement Below:

These are the numbers for the latest Gallup Poll.

The latest Gallup Poll, conducted Aug. 13-16, 2007, finds public support for the Democratic nomination at 48% for Clinton and 25% for Obama, giving Clinton a 23-point lead. Support for former North Carolina senator John Edwards, in third place with 13%, is similar to what he has received since May.

The remaining candidates are in the 1-2% range.

Gallup also examines Karl Rove's remarks about Hillary. Shorter version: Unfavorables this early and particularly in Hillary's case may not mean much. They also said:

It is notable that Giuliani stands as the most positively rated 2008 presidential candidate in terms of favorable ratings at 59% (with a 27% unfavorable rating), but still does not beat Clinton in a trial heat "if the election were held today".

A new poll by the American Research Group has Hillary Clinton continuing to lead by big margins in the Democratic primary race. Note how Obama has fallen ten points, from 31% to 21% from March, 2007 to now.

Edwards is up a point. And Hillary's support among women is up to 42%.

Update 8/15:: Hillary's lead over Obama is also widening in New Hampshire, according to the latest Rasmussen poll.

Hillary Clinton's first campaign ad has been released in Iowa. She says that everyone who has been invisible to George W. Bush won't be invisible to the next president.

The Sopranos' video it isn't, but I think it's what plays in Iowa.

I don't think Hillary needs to keep pointing out Bush's failures ... he's not running against her. I'd like her to compare the current Republican candidates with Bush and explain how she will be different than them.

Thanks to Talking Points Memo for posting video of big portions of Hillary Clinton's breakout session -- including one of the two questions I got to ask her -- "How is your attorney general going to be different than Alberto Gonzales?" My question starts at 1:40 into the clip.

The other question I asked her was about warrantless electronic surveillance. I asked her if she were President, what kind of warrantless monitoring procedures would she authorize and what kind would she refuse to authorize? I haven't seen a clip of her answer to that anywhere yet.

Reportedly, there were 350 people who chose to attend Hillary's breakout session over those of the other candidates. That's 1/4 of those who attended Yearly Kos. I think any notion that Hillary was not enthusiastically welcomed at Yearly Kos is wrong. I thought she excelled during the breakout. As you can see from the entirety of the clip (not just my portion) she was cheered throughout.
As Newsweek reported, "The audience lapped it up."

Peter Daou, Hillary's online communications director, gives thanks here to Yearly Kos and those who attended.

I'm in the front row of a very packed room waiting for Hillary Clinton to arrive. She will speak at a breakout session here at noon.

Only problem for live-blogging is my battery is very low, so I won't be able to update until it's over and I get back to an electrical outlet.

If you're watching a streaming version, feel free to use the comments here to keep everyone updated.

Really big buzz in the room, lots of excitement. The entire Yearly Kos event seems to have come alive today.

More later...

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll taken July 21 finds Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead over other contenders. The poll results are here.

I think it's significant that those responding also gave her a double-digit lead when asked which candidate would mostly likely win in the general election:

Now, thinking ahead to November 2008: Which Democratic presidential candidate do you think has the best chance to defeat the Republican nominee in the general election? (Read list if necessary.)

Hillary Clinton 43
Barack Obama 27
John Edwards 9
Al Gore 7
Bill Richardson 1
Chris Dodd 1
Joe Biden *
Dennis Kucinich *
Mike Gravel *
Other *
None of these 4
No opinion 7

As for Al Gore, he scored 14 when asked who those polled favored now, but only 9 when asked who was most likely to defeat Republicans.

Hillary is also getting major support on her Iraq stance right now.

She has a 51 percent to 29 percent lead over Obama among those in favor of a complete, immediate withdrawal.

Former President Bill Clinton appeared on Good Morning America today. As to Hillary's record of supporting women, he said:

"I defy you to find anybody who has run for office in recent history who's got a longer history of working for women, for families and children, than Hillary does," he said. "I don't think it's inconsistent with being a woman that you can also be knowledgeable on military and security affairs, and be strong when the occasion demands it. I don't consider that being manly -- I consider that being a leader."

He also said the U.S. cannot succeed militarily in Iraq and come September, President Bush will be out excuses.

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