Candidates snark at political dinner

Donald Trump said he was in a room full of wonderful people at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York on Thursday night.

"Or as Hillary calls it, her largest crowd of her season," he said with a chuckle, as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton laughed, too. "This is corny stuff."

But as it progressed, Trump's speech turned more biting.

"Here she is in public pretending not to hate Catholics," he said. Several in the crowd booed.

Trump went on: "Everyone knows of course Hillary's belief that it takes a village, as in Haiti where she's taken a number of them." That was met with more jeering from the crowd. Clinton's smile was still on her face, but she didn't laugh.

Just 24 hours after engaging in fierce verbal combat in their final debate in Las Vegas and refusing to shake hands, Clinton and Trump were nearly elbow to elbow again, seated at the same table, at a charity dinner famous for its humorous speeches.

If Wednesday raised the question whether the two New Yorkers vying for the nation's highest office could deliver a knockout blow or take a punch, Thursday's encounter tested each one's ability to deliver a punch line and take a joke.

Trump told the audience of 1,500 at the Waldorf Astoria ballroom in Manhattan that during the debate "I called Hillary a nasty woman, and after listening to her go on and on and on, I don't dislike Rosie O'Donnell so much anymore."

Clinton spoke second, sticking to the self-deprecatory remarks and gracious gestures that have been the hallmarks of previous dinners.

She called it a friendly dinner for a great cause. She told Trump that if he didn't like what she was saying, "Feel free to shout 'Wrong!'" That was a reference to Trump's habit of interrupting her comments at the debate to disagree.

Clinton said after Trump's speech that she'll "enjoy listening to Mike Pence deny that you ever gave it".

Trump, arms folded, laughed.

During Wednesday's debate Trump had described Clinton as "such a nasty woman". She called him "the most dangerous presidential candidate" in modern history. A day later, tradition at the 71-year-old dinner called for the two to light-heartedly rib each other. Their place settings were separated only by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York's archbishop.

Before either spoke, the two candidates were admonished to be civil toward one another by Al Smith IV, the great-grandson of the state's 42nd governor. He won laughs when he spun an imaginary scene in which Trump greeted Clinton and asked how she was doing, and she would have said "Fine, now get out of the ladies' dressing room."

Smith then got more laughs at Trump's expense. "Even though there's a man sitting next to you in a robe, please watch your language," he said, referring to his seat next to the cardinal.

The dinner's namesake, Smith, was New York's 42nd governor and the nation's first Catholic presidential candidate. He was known as "the Happy Warrior" for the good humor with which he railed against political adversaries.

As has been the custom, the audience of 1,500 was dressed in white-tie formal attire. They paid $3,000 to $15,000 per person, raising about $6 million for Catholic charities that will give services to impoverished New York children.