Jingo-In-Chief: Colorado Republican Rep. Tom “Miami Is a Third World Country” Tancredo thinks he has what it takes to be president of these United States. Of course, that might have something to do with the low bar the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. has set. Tancredo has announced the formation of an exploratory committee to assess the nation’s need for a jingoistic, mono-issue conservative from the suburbs of Denver.

Tancredo’s single issue is immigration reform, by which he means close the borders and kick out the illegals. Following a weekend meeting with Repugs in Iowa, Tancredo was convinced that the increasingly crowded GOP field of runners needs one more. Indeed, he explained to the Associated Press Tuesday what the Iowa GOP brain trust told him: “They believe that there is a void in this race that none of the other candidates are willing or able to fill.”

He’s probably right, you know. What sensible presidential candidate would hitch his wagon to the lone horse of immigration reform, an issue which reared its ugly head before the midterm elections but had absolutely no effect on any key races. Indeed, while the 109th Congress was well-known for its ability to get nothing accomplished, one got the sense that few on Capitol Hill had any real stomach for taking on the immigration issue, so no one did. Well, except for enacting a law that calls on the federal government to build a 700-mile-long Great Wall of America on the Mexico border — without appropriateing the $49 million to $70 million it will likely take to build it.

So Tancredo sees himself as the Void Filler of the GOP in the race for president in 2008. Good luck with that, Tom. He’ll likely garner some support from the true conservatives out there, but he’s such a polarizing and monomaniacal figure that I can’t imagine him becoming a viable candidate for president. But then, I thought the same thing about George W. Bush.