Forget it, Hillary. It's Chinatown.

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

I'm sure Hillary Clinton wants everyone to forget about Chinatown, or even better, not know about it in the first place.

NEW YORK -- Something remarkable happened at 44 Henry St., a grimy Chinatown tenement with peeling walls. It also happened nearby at a dimly lighted apartment building with trash bins clustered by the front door.

And again not too far away, at 88 E. Broadway beneath the Manhattan bridge, where vendors chatter in Mandarin and Fujianese as they hawk rubber sandals and bargain-basement clothes.

All three locations, along with scores of others scattered throughout some of the poorest Chinese neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, have been swept by an extraordinary impulse to shower money on one particular presidential candidate -- Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton's campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000. When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) ran for president in 2004, he received $24,000 from Chinatown.

...Clinton aides said they were concerned about some of the Chinatown contributions.

"We have hundreds of thousands of donors. We are proud to have support from across New York and the country from many different communities," campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said. "In this instance, our own compliance process flagged a number of questionable donations and took the appropriate steps to be sure they were legally given. In cases where we couldn't confirm that, the money was returned."

The Times examined the cases of more than 150 donors who provided checks to Clinton after fundraising events geared to the Chinese community. One-third of those donors could not be found using property, telephone or business records. Most have not registered to vote, according to public records.

And several dozen were described in financial reports as holding jobs -- including dishwasher, server or chef -- that would normally make it difficult to donate amounts ranging from $500 to the legal maximum of $2,300 per election.

Of 74 residents of New York's Chinatown, Flushing, the Bronx or Brooklyn that The Times called or visited, only 24 could be reached for comment.

Many said they gave to Clinton because they were instructed to do so by local association leaders. Some said they wanted help on immigration concerns. And several spoke of the pride they felt by being associated with a powerful figure such as Clinton.

This is the slime that is the Clinton Machine.

A Washington Post editorial on "Dishwashers for Clinton" criticizes the Hillary camp for its fundraising zeal.

This appears to be another instance in which a Clinton campaign's zeal for campaign cash overwhelms its judgment. After the fundraising scandals of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, the dangers of vacuuming cash from a politically inexperienced immigrant community should have been obvious.

The Post accuses Hillary of having a vetting process that "seems geared more toward justifying the acceptance of checks than toward uncovering problems."

I won't argue with that.

What is her problem? Why is she being so careless with the fundraising, especially given all of Bill's baggage?

I'm guessing that Obama's success at raking in cash really freaked her out, so she took risks.

Norman Hsu, Chinatown -- very poor decisions.

If Hillary does get the nomination, I think this is the kind of stuff that really is going to hurt her.

When all is said and done, I don't think most Americans will choose to vote to wade back into that Clinton cesspool.

I don't care how many pink blouses Hillary digs up to wear. She can smile non-stop and pepper her speeches and interviews with those embarrassing, girlish giggles. None of that can soften her image to the point that voters will forget the dirty reality of Hillary Clinton and her brand of politics.

The Times examined the cases of more than 150 donors who provided checks to Clinton after fundraising events geared to the Chinese community. One-third of those donors could not be found using property, telephone or business records. Most have not registered to vote, according to public records.

Yes, it's Chinatown.