There has been a lot of paranoid thinking around this forum. I think things happened just as we all saw that they did. Mitt was experienced in running for President and was well-organized, hard-working, well-funded, and determined. He started early and kept at it. He learned from his mistakes and competed everywhere.
None of the others had all of these attributes and Mitt just beat them. The sniping between candidates was just what naturally occurs as partisans of any one pointed out the shortcomings of the others.