If journalistic ring-kissing were an Olympic sport, Byron Pitts, the CBS man on the Kerry bus, is winning the gold medal.

MRC’s Brent Baker passed on the latest precious jaw-dropper this morning. Last night, Pitts passed along fawning spin points from Kerry operatives about how before every important event Kerry will “make a Sign of the Cross, then kiss the St. Christopher’s medallion his mother gave him as a child.” Plus, Kerry always keeps with him his “Vietnam dog tags” and “a four-leaf clover that a voter in Iowa gave him in January when he was trailing badly.” After the speech, Pitts relayed how John Kerry had supposedly reminded his sister that on her deathbed their mother told him, “integrity, that’s what matters,” and “tonight,” Pitts truckled, “John Kerry tried to show that integrity.”