We’re getting a little more insight as to why presidential candidate Herman Cain was granted Secret Service protection — the first candidate to get protection in this campaign season.
Apparently Cain asked for it, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and congressional leaders approved it Thursday, reports the Washington Post.
The Secret Service has requested $113.4 million to guard the Republican primary winner in the general election — $4 million more than in 2008 and about two-thirds more than 2004.
The Secret Service has a long history of protecting those seeking the highest office in the land.
Barack Obama was the earliest candidate to receive Secret Service protection when agents began tailing the then-senator eight months before the first primary contest, in May 2007.
Campaign trail security began in 1968 with Congressional authorization to protect major presidential candidates after Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination in California.
While Obama received protection earliest, having agents at his side for 629 days. But Ronald Reagan holds the record for the most “protection days:” Over the course of three campaigns, the Secret Service protected Reagan for 791 days.
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