charities. the al smith dinner has become an election dinner tradition. he delivthey delivered setting hundreds of millions of campaign money. the next joint appearance will be the big debate next week. it won t be quite as pleasant. monday s debate is different because the topic is foreign policy. spoirl alert, we got bin laden. people seem to be curious as to how we prepare for the debates. let me tell you what i do. first refrain from alcohol for 65 years before the debate. second, find the biggest available strong man and mers illy attack it, big bird didn t even see it coming. good lines last night they may have been laughing but they are thinking about the polls. real clear politics average of polls and you see the impact of