Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo is running ads he describes as "scary" to try to influence the campaign debate. Tancredo has purchased time on Iowa radio and television stations to prod the other candidates to promise to deport more illegal immigrants, especially those Tancredo says are intent on launching terrorist attacks here.

"Yea, this is a scary commercial. I understand that, but it’s a scary world in which we live. These are real threats," Tancredo says. "If you are going to run for president of the United States of America, you’d better tell people what you’re going to do about this."

Tancredo’s ad features pictures of terrorist bombings elsewhere, as well as images of a simulated bombing at an American mall. Tancredo says intelligence data indicates al Qaida plans to attack malls here.

"You know, you can talk about health care plans all you want. You can talk about fixing Social Security. You can talk about education and all of the rest of this stuff that essentially doesn’t matter if this starts," Tancredo says.

Tancredo contends issues matter and nothing in his estimation is more crucial to the country’s future that addressing the issue of illegal immigration — and those who’ve entered the country in order to attack. "This is not meant for just some sort of hype," Tancredo says. "I’m worried about this and I have been for a long time."

During a news conference in Des Moines on Monday afternoon, Tancredo acknowledged the "odds are very long" against him winning the GOP presidential nomination and Tancredo said he is "o.k." with being a "bottom tier" candidate.

AUDIO: Tancredo news conference (mp3 runs 20 min)