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If Obama is a huge buzzword for Republicans this election cycle, a close second in Colorado must be "unity."

The Grand Old Party in the state is departing from past practice and trying to avoid the fractious primaries that have hobbled it for years.

State Rep. Mark Waller was the latest Republican to use the word, when he dropped out of the attorney general's race Monday and backed his one-time primary rival. In his news release, Waller said he was promoting "unity behind the Republican ticket."

Ryan Call, director of the Colorado Republican Party, thanked Waller for his work to "unite the party" behind Cynthia Coffman, the chief deputy attorney general.

"Unity" was the theme when a Republican recently withdrew from his legislative race.

And the unity motif made national news earlier this year when the three top contenders in the GOP race for U.S. Senate bowed out and threw their support to Congressman Cory Gardner, believing he had a better chance of defeating Democrat Mark Udall in November.

"We're recognizing we can't spend all of our energy and resources fighting each other," said state Sen. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs, who dropped out of the U.S. Senate race. "We are genuinely moving toward unity."

Call said he can't remember another election where so many GOP candidates cited unity as they withdrew from their races and supported the front-runner.

"The stakes are so high we just can't afford to be divided," Call said in an interview this week. "The old way of doing things is not a recipe for success. Republicans are finally realizing that."

Rick Palacio, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party, countered that "unity means absolutely nothing when you have bad candidates and bad ideas."

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Colorado Republicans unite behind front-runner in Senate, other races