shake hands and kiss babies

“You just want to shake hands and kiss babies and sign autographs and do all that stuff.”

When the coronavirus pandemic curtailed campaign events, effectively ending the rope lines where candidates shake hands and kiss babies, Mr. Biden’s strategists scrambled for alternatives.

You’ve got to shake hands and kiss babies.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post had a story over the weekend about Rubio’s unorthodox campaign strategy, which has seen him spend little time engaging in the day-to-day retail politics we see from other candidates: barnstorming around the early-voting primary states to shake hands and kiss babies at pancake breakfasts or hit the rubber-chicken dinner circuit.

When politicians run for office, they shake hands and kiss babies.