Clinton returns ALL Hsu-related money ($850,000)

Well, Hillary is going to return under a million of Hsu-related money from her "fugitive donor."

At the end of June, Mrs. Clinton had about $45 million on hand for her presidential campaign; the loss of $850,000 amounts to less than 2 percent of that sum, but, her advisers say, it is a relatively sizable amount that would have been welcomed for the expensive television advertising purchases ahead.

In reality, that's 2-3 extra fundraisers. Not a huge deal, but I bet that the staff is going to miss that extra money in their paychecks.

NYTimes' article, "Clinton to return all Hsu-tainted money" makes it seem like there is a vast network of Chinese money that is going to Clinton. Or so it would seem from the comments section:

What else is new? Remember Slick Willie’s Chinese money connections? The Lincoln bedroom will soon be prepared for guests again.

— Posted by drawlings

We are becoming more like Mexico every day and I don’t mean all the mexicans both living here legally and illegakky. Mexico is still a 3rd world country because of its corrupt political system. Is the USA far behind, not with politicians who are in the pocket of these guys. Does anyone really believe this guy Hsu didn’t want something in return for his money machine. While we are at lets see how much money he raised for Boxer and Feinstein. It’s a well known fact that Senator Feinsteins husband had lots of business dealings in China. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Lets have a congressional inquiry befor the elections to get to the bottom of this and expose these hypocrites on both sides of the aisle.

— Posted by John Martein

In reality, it is good that all the campaigns are going to be vetting top donors -- it's just good compliance and good practice. As I said before, campaigns should have more staff researching their donors backgrounds so that they don't get whallopped by opp research. I.e. - think like your worst enemy and you'll know what's coming. However, I hope that this vetting is not only of a particular group, i.e., APIAs, and doesn't lead to a fervor like last time. For their part, the Clinton campaign has been trying to keep this story ot of the press and as low profile as possible (vested interest) but it dovetails with a desire in the APIA politico community to not be scrapegoated (again.)

In semi-related news, Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) is going to retire, and fmr. Sen. Bob Kerrey who runs the New School in NYC looks to be the favored candidate who will win, if he decides to run again. It would have been better if Kerrey hadn't commented on the Hsu case, since the GOP will try to tie him closer to Hsu, but in a presidential year, even a red state like Nebraska could be a pickup at the Senate level, given Kerrey's popularity back home. Plus, then we would kinda have to count it as a purple state if Kerrey gets elected since both senators would be Dems. (Ben Nelson is the other Senator, and as kos points out, has a worse voting record on key liberal issues.)