(Video) After debate, candidates face roast at Alfred E. Smith Dinner

Barack Obama and GOP rival John McCain trade their boxing gloves for formal wear - and some self-deprecating humor - at Thursday night's Alfred E. Smith Dinner.

The annual see-and-be-seen political roast, named for the famed 1920s New York governor, is "the last time they're going to be together before the election," said Smith's great-grandson and namesake.

The dinner has a storied history, having featured luminaries fromWinston Churchill to George W. Bush.

And with the excitement generated by the presidential candidates at the top of the marquee, this year's soldout soiree has surpassed its goal of raising $2.5 million for Catholic causes.

"I've heard from people I haven't heard from in 20 years," Smith told the Daily News.

Political heavyweights will pepper the dais: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Gov. Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg and formerSecretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Former Gov. George Pataki, former Mayor Ed Koch and Manhattan District AttorneyRobert Morgenthau will be there, too.

When Smith approached then-McCain adviser John Weaver about the Republican nominee appearing, "He said, 'We'll be there.' I said, 'I haven't given you the date yet.' He said, 'Doesn't matter.'"

McCain spoke at the Al Smith dinner in 2005.

Getting Team Obama to commit was slightly more work: "My line to them was, 'I know you're coming. You know you're coming.'"

McCain and Obama will each deliver 15-minute talks.

Appearing at the Al Smith dinner is a tradition for presidential candidates, with both major nominees typically attending in an election year.

"They say Jack Kennedy won the [1960] election at the Al Smith Dinner," Smith said in his office at St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers, which features an array of Gov. Smith's photos and an Obama bobble-head doll.

In 2004, Democrat John Kerry - a Catholic - was not invited, presumably for his pro-choice stance on abortion. As a result, President Bush also did not attend.

Alfred E. Smith, the nation's first Catholic presidential candidate back in 1928, died in 1944. The first dinner in his honor came a year later at the behest of then-Archbishop Francis Spellman. Since then, it has become one of the premier fund-raisers for the Archdiocese of New York.

Last year, with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair headlining, the dinner raised $1.8 million for charity, Smith's great-grandson said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/10/15/2008-10-15_after_debate_candidates_face_roast_at_al.html

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