press the flesh
衆院選 埼玉12区から最高齢で立候補した川島良吉氏の続報です。cf. http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20121213/1355372934
ご存じの通り、残念な結果に終わり、供託金も没収（forfeit--どこかで出てきましたね）という形になりました。
press the fleshは、先にふれたguardと同じく選挙報道ではおなじみの表現です。文字通りには「肉体（flesh）を押す（press）」ですが、これは"if politicians or famous people press the flesh, they shake hands with the public"（Cambridge Idioms Dictionary）という比喩的な意味を持ち、主に米国で「政治家や著名人が多くの人たちと握手をする」ことを面白おかしく述べるときの言い方です。
なお、このあとに来るa fraction of his ageは、どのような意味なんじゃろうか。EnDoughくん、press the fleshとのつながりとともに説明してみんさいや！（UG）
94-year-old candidate loses funeral fund election deposit
A 94-year-old man who used his funeral savings to fund his parliamentary run in Japan’s election lost his 3 million yen deposit, he told AFP Monday.
Ryokichi Kawashima was the oldest candidate in Sunday’s poll, but despite a spirited campaign that saw him pressing the flesh of people a fraction of his age, he fell short of the 10% of votes he needed.
“My grandfather used to tell me it’s shameful to get attached to money,” he said. “A samurai doesn’t cling to money no matter how hungry he gets.”
Kawashima had put down 3 million yen as the deposit required of candidates running for office, money he had put aside to pay his funeral bills.
But the 2,169 ballots he received were a long way from the tally he required in Saitama, north of Tokyo, and he forfeited the cash.
