Kissing babies is trying to influence an election.
Correct, but, remember in order for there to be a violation, it must be done with the sole purpose of influencing the election.
If you actually like kissing babies, that adds a personal reward, which takes baby kissing off the table.
[And note this is not irrelevant to Trump's defense. If he had an additional motive, that of protecting his family from scandal, that takes payouts to porn stars off the table as well. It was precisely on that point that John Edwards' jury was hung.]