Did Immigration Ads Spark Link to Terror?

Dec, 14, 2007— -- When Iowa Democrat Tod Bowman got home Thursday night, he got an earful from his wife about what their fifth-grader had just done.

Earlier that day, their son, Beau Bowman, asked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., what he would do as president if U.S. troops were not yet back from Iraq when illegal immigrants "start to take action and start bombing buildings and stuff."

Watch the exchange, first reported on ABC News' Political Radar here.

When Beau Bowman's mom said how "embarrassed" she was, Tod Bowman's first reaction was that their 11-year-old had simply mangled his words.

But in an interview with ABC News on Friday, Bowman said that he now thinks it's more than likely that his son's question was prompted by immigration ads which have been bombarding Iowa in advance of the state's Jan. 3 caucuses.

"We watch probably more political shows than the normal family," said Bowman, a high-school government teacher. "He hears a lot from television commercials and those shows about immigration and terrorism and I'm sure he kind of blended them together."

While immigration comes in fifth nationwide when Republicans are asked to rank the most important issues, among Iowa Republicans it tied for first. The GOP presidential hopefuls have seized on public concern and have made it a focus of their ad campaigns.

The most graphic illegal immigration ad to air in Iowa thus far has been run by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.

The ad, which features a child covered in blood, warns that Islamic terrorists frothing with hate freely roam U.S. soil.

The ad culminates with a hooded man detonating a bomb.

You can watch the ad by clicking here.

While Tancredo's ad is the most explicit, he is far from alone in making the connection between illegal immigration and national security.

Former Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas sits atop the polls in Iowa, is currently running an ad in the Hawkeye State in which he says, "Our government has failed us. Build a border fence. Secure the border. And do it now."