Clinton-Obama Race Ups Stakes for Secret Service

Agents deploy to protect two unique candidates
Posted Mar 11, 2008 4:13 PM CDT
Clinton-Obama Race Ups Stakes for Secret Service
Sasha Obama, daughter of Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., looks out the window of a campaign RV as a Secret Service agent stands by prior to attending the Iowa Cubs minor league baseball game, Wednesday, July 4, 2007, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)   (Associated Press)

The race for the Democratic nomination is confounding an unlikely group—the Secret Service, which started covering Barack Obama earlier than any previous candidate and has protected Hillary Clinton since Bill's nomination in 1992. And the throngs of passionate supporters—as many as 30,000—at campaign events “definitely add something the Secret Service hasn't seen in a while,'' said an ex-agent.

The Secret Service uses sharpshooters, helicopters, and agents dressed as supporters to protect Obama, codenamed “Renegade.”He got a detail last May, after thousands rather than hundreds began attending rallies. Clinton, or “Evergreen,” has tightened security since the New Year, requiring all rally-goers to pass through metal detectors. John McCain, meanwhile, will get a detail now that he has secured the GOP nomination. (More Barack Obama stories.)

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