Better than the debates

At the 63rd annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, John McCain and Barack Obama exchanged comedic jabs. The Al Smith dinner is a charity event organized by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York for the benefit of needy children. An estimated $4 million was raised. The event often draws politicians as speakers and, by long tradition, presidential candidates appear as headliners every four years. In this case, the evening of humor came one night after an intense final debate of the presidential campaign.