The Catholic in Tony Abbott would surely have appreciated the gesture.
Nino Barbaro dropped to one knee before the opposition leader, almost in worship.
"Are you the man? We need you to fix this country up. Are you the man?" the Sydney Markets egg seller implored.
"Yes, mate," came the reply, as Barbaro planted a big kiss on Mr Abbott's forehead.
With just three days of campaigning left, the opposition leader on Wednesday blitzed marginal Sydney electorates - the key to the coalition's chances.
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The indefatigable Mr Abbott started just after 7am at the markets in Flemington, within Labor's seat of Reid and ended in Lindsay with a visit to the Corinthian Door factory in St Marys in the afternoon.
At the market with his daughter Frances, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, he was mobbed by stall holders wanting photos as others called "Go Tony!".
"That's the one we all have to vote for," one was overheard saying as Mr Abbott passed by, dodging forklifts and pallets of produce.
Later he stopped by Mitre 10 in Matraville, in Sydney's east, to talk up the chances of Liberal candidate Michael Feneley.
The Professor of Cardiology at St Vincent's Hospital is hoping to snatch Kingsford Smith from Labor, who have parachuted in former senator and NSW Labor general secretary Matt Thistlethwaite to replace Peter Garrett.
"The ultimate faceless man thinks he can claim this seat as of right," Mr Abbott said, before hammering home his most powerful campaign slogan.
"Do we really want another three years like the last six?"
"If you don't ... there is only one thing to do and that is to vote for your Liberal and National candidate."
But undermining that message are poor performing western Sydney candidates.
He was asked if media-shy Greenway hopeful Jaymes Diaz was in a "journalist protection program".
"He had a bad day with some journalists, OK," Mr Abbott said, referring to Mr Diaz' now notorious interview in which he failed to list any of the six points in the coalition's asylum seeker plan.
"It doesn't make him a bad candidate."
He again defended Lindsay candidate Fiona Scott over her comments linking asylum seekers to traffic congestion.
At Penrith City Council Chambers to announce $35 million for a road project, he was mischievously quizzed on whether the suburb's traffic problems had anything to do with boat people.
"Fiona Scott is a really outstanding candidate, and I've got to say she has worked very, very hard," he said, before recruiting an unlikely figure to defend Ms Scott's gaffe.
"It was (former Labor premier and now foreign minister) Bob Carr who kept saying Sydney is full. He kept saying Sydney is so full that we can't take any more immigrants."
Ms Scott was bailed up by reporters, as she left the event, wanting her to clarify her earlier comments.
"I reiterate with what Tony said earlier," was her less than convincing response.
Found campaigning in western Sydney on Wednesday, Mr Diaz denied being in hiding.
"I'm not so hard to find. You can see I'm in a public shopping centre," he told Seven News while he handed out campaign cards and shook hands with constituents.
