The Democratic Party needs to wrap up its presidential nominating contest and quickly, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told "FOX News Sunday."

Richardson declared his support for Barack Obama on Friday despite being a longtime ally of the Clintons and even serving as former President Bill Clinton's energy secretary. He refused to say that Clinton's questioning of Obama's patriotism was on par with the 1950s-era senator who led investigations into "anti-American" activities by prominent actors, authors and even Army officials.

That claim had been put forward Friday by retired Air Force Gen. Merrill “Tony” McPeak, an Obama adviser after Bill Clinton suggested Hillary Clinton and John McCain are devoted to the country but Obama is not.

Instead, Richardson argued that the two candidates are tearing each other apart while John McCain travels around Europe and the Middle East casting himself as presidential.

"I think it reaches a point where the leaders of the party, the voters in the Democratic Party, have to see that this bloodletting that would go between the last primary and the convention is not serving us well. I mean, it gets negative proportionately more every single day," Richardson said. But Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Hillary Clinton supporter, say the Obama campaign is trying to have it both ways.

"They say the campaign's too negative, and they go out and turn an innocent remark -- Bill Clinton was saying what a lot of us feel. ... And instead they launch this all-out attack trying to take an inference out of President Clinton's words that no fair person could take. It's an example of the negativity that Governor Richardson is talking about," Rendell said.

"If they want to tone it down, don't accuse someone of McCarthyism," he said.

Both campaigns had wooed Richardson since he dropped his presidential bid in January. Richardson even watched the Super Bowl with his old boss and the former president was convinced that while he may have not cinched an endorsement for his wife, if nothing than the governor would remain neutral. Two weeks ago, however, Richardson called Obama and said he was almost sure he would back the Illinois senator.

Rendell, whose state is the next big contest on April 22, pointed out that Clinton leads there by 12-26 points.

"I think Senator Clinton is going to win a solid majority. And when you combine that with Ohio, and Texas, and Florida, and Michigan and all of the other key states that we have to win in November, it sends a very important message that if we want to win -- and I think that's what Democrats care most about -- that Hillary Clinton's our best candidate to win," Rendell said.

Richardson argued that Pennsylvania isn't the only critically important state. Afterward comes North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana and Oregon.

"You've got many other bigger states. And then the time has come for Democrats to come together and say, 'We need to end this. We need to get ready for November. We need to be positive.' We have to stop these personal attacks. They're reaching excessive amounts," he said.

Richardson stopped short of telling Clinton she should drop out of the race, but made it very clear that he believes the superdelegates should not overturn the will of the voters, even if she is picking up momentum at the end of the race.

"I believe the sooner we end this race -- and I'm not suggesting anybody get out, but maybe after the remaining primaries, the 10 primaries that are going to be very important in the days ahead, the Democrats come together and look at who's ahead when it comes to delegates, when it comes to the popular vote, the number of states," he said.

FOX News' Caroline Shively contributed to this report.