‘Body Guy’ Reggie Love goes back to school

As excitement grows in the Barack Obama camp, members of the Illinois senator's team are anxiously waiting to see what job they might get in an Obama administration if their man wins the White House race next week.

But the senator's bodyguard and personal assistant - or "body guy" as the candidate calls him - has no such ambition: Reggie Love intends to go back to school.

The 26-year-old already has a degree in political science and public policy from Duke University in North Carolina. Now he plans to return to Duke for the degree that really counts in Washington - law.

Obama will surely miss the 26-year-old who has been at his side throughout the campaign. Love carries his pens, his snacks, his chewing gum and a constant supply of water.

He introduced Obama to the rap music of Jay-Z, loading it on to an iPod he gave his boss as a birthday present. More controversially, he is said to have introduced Obama and his wife Michelle to the fist-bump which Fox News famously suggested was normally used as a greeting between Muslim terrorists.

Most important, at 6ft 4in, Reggie is one of the few people on the campaign team who can give Obama a run for his money on a basketball court. No wonder People magazine named Love one of America's most eligible bachelors.