Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is now being protected by the US Secret Service, the federal law enforcement agency that protects the president.

Protection had started but authorities did not respond when asked why the campaign had asked for federal protection as the former pizza company boss tries to become the Republican nominee for president in the November 2012 election. However it is not unusual for candidates to get protection from the secret service before their election.

Barack Obama, elected president in November 2008, got Secret Service protection in May 2007, the earliest ever for any candidate.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton, now Obama’s secretary of state, was under Secret Service protection before she entered the 2008 presidential race because of her status as the wife of former President Bill Clinton.

Herman Cain to get secret service protection

Report by Adhir Roy Chowdury