Obama Gets Secret Service Protection

Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been placed under the protection of the Secret Service. The protection was requested of the Obama campaign:

"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, Senator Clinton, also a presidential candidate, already has Secret Service protection.