I thought that all declared candidates automatically got it. Is that not correct?
I bumped into Paul Ryan at a gun show in Virginia a while back, even he had some kind of federal protective detail with him.
Nope. Candidates only get SS protection when one of two things happens: They are nominated by one of the two favored political parties, the Republicans or the Democrats, in convention, OR, the sitting President grants it to them. That's it.
George W. Bush granted protection to Obama way early - before the Dem convention - in the 2008 election.