If Big Money, Big Business, Big Chamber of Commerce, Big CAFTA/NAFTA types get behind Fred Thompson, it will only be a matter of time that he adopts, as president, more or less the same George W. Bush approach on illegal aliens (I fear...I could be wrong...but I fear).
I have seen no evidence that these types are lining up behind anyone other than Rudy McRomney.
The Thompson phenomenon seems to be genuinely grass roots. He hasn't spent much if any money, he hasn't made money raising his first cause, and he hasn't shown any tendency to moderate his speech to favor these types.
Having said all that, only time will ultimately tell. I believe that since setting up his exploratory committee, money has been coming in to the Thompson campaign, but I'd be pretty sure that it is almost exclusively in the $50 to $500 range.