Senator Obama under Secret Service protection

[alicia-w]

Does anyone know anymore about this story? The details are certainly sketchy:

From CNN:

Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been placed under the protection of the Secret Service, the agency said Thursday.

The Secret Service would not divulge the reason for the protection, which came at the request of the Obama campaign.

The organization said in a written statement that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, "after consultation with the congressional advisory committee, authorized the United States Secret Service to protect presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama."

Chertoff works with a congressional panel made up of half a dozen members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"As a matter of procedure, we will not release any details of the deliberations of assessments that led to protection being initiated," the Secret Service statement said.

Protection goes beyond surrounding the candidate with well-armed agents, the Secret Service's Web site states. The agency does extensive advance work and threat assessments developed by its Intelligence Division to identify potential risks, the site says.

As a former first lady, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, another Democratic presidential candidate, already has Secret Service protection.

[GalvestonDuck]

Probably some KKKlown-wannabe made a threat regarding him becoming president. I'm surprised we haven't heard their ruckus yet.

[kevin]

This is pretty normal with high profile candidates isn't it?

[GalvestonDuck]

This is pretty normal with high profile candidates isn't it?

Not yet -- http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml . It's more than 120 days before the election.

[cycloneye]

No specfic threats against the Senator.Read the information at link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18474444/

[kevin]

This is pretty normal with high profile candidates isn't it?

Not yet -- http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml . It's more than 120 days before the election.

Ahh, in that case I'd say its because I've heard people say

"If a *expletive deleted* ever gets into the White House, someone better shoot em!"

[alicia-w]

hardly worth repeating....

[Brent]

Apparently it was at his request due to large crowds he receives.

[abajan]

Could a Mod kindly change the 'SS' in the title to 'Secret Service'? If I hadn't known about this story before, I would surely have drawn the wrong conclusion as to what this thread implied!