For more than 50 years, the road to the White House has almost always included a white-tie rest stop at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a charity roast at the Waldorf-Astoria named for the nation's first Roman Catholic to be a major party's presidential nominee. Since the dinners were first given in 1945, the only presidents not to address them have been Harry S. Truman and Bill Clinton. But on Oct. 21 this year, when guests put on their tiaras and tails for one of the premier political roasts of the year, they will be treated not to...