Since when? I've never known candidates to receive SS protection until they were the nominee.
I have, Senator Bob Kerrey received SS protection. I don't recall how long he had the protection. But as evidence that he did have it, I present this article from the New York Times From the Secret Service Website
Today, the Secret Service is authorized by law to protect:
* The president, the vice president, (or other individuals next in order of succession to the Office of the President), the president-elect and vice president-elect
* The immediate families of the above individuals
* Former presidents and their spouses for their lifetimes, except when the spouse remarries. In 1997, Congressional legislation became effective limiting Secret Service protection to former presidents for a period of not more than 10 years from the date the former president leaves office
* Children of former presidents until age 16
* Visiting heads of foreign states or governments and their spouses traveling with them, other distinguished foreign visitors to the United States, and official representatives of the United States performing special missions abroad
* Major presidential and vice presidential candidates, and their spouses within 120 days of a general presidential election
* Other individuals as designated per Executive Order of the President
* National Special Security Events, when designated as such by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
Two things, which I wasn't aware of before looking it up, make this situation different.
1) It's way more than 120 days until the election. (Perhaps the period was longer in '92? or Kerry got the protection for a very short period)
2) Who the heck is this "bipartisan committee" that gets to decide who gets SS protection and who does not. From the above it appears that some are mandated by law (not Obama, at least not yet) and the rest are determined by "executive order", meaning the President, not some Congressional committee....Ah but I see that this is just Turbin Durbin and Stretch Pelosi taking credit for the "work product" of others.
This WABC story indicates that Obama is being protected under the orders of the Secretary of Homeland Security, supposedly based on some actual threat against Obama: From the article:
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff authorized Obama's protection after consultations with the bipartisan congressional advisory committee, according to Chertoff spokesman Russ Knocke and the Secret Service.