Money is on Deakins was a stalking horse for McCain much the same as he used some in the Presidential election the same way to win the nomination.
Deakin was in quite likely for that reason.
The GOP insiders deal with conservative primary threats in many ways.
The most common include insertion of a third candidate to split votes from a conservative challenger or the implantation of a weak opponent in a two way race who infiltrates and hustles the leaderless conservative grassroots.