Is capacitive sensing possible with batteries?

Any new progress?

Another thread referenced this tiny one MPR121 http://www.freescale.com/files/sensors/doc/data_sheet/MPR121.pdf

Fun-With-Sparks has a board https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9695

Surface mount, annoying low voltages, but might work better than scratchbuilding a cap and trying to adapt it to conventional parts.