DENVER – Top associates of former President Clinton accused Barack Obama's team of going too soft on Republican John McCain at the Democratic convention, the latest sign of continued tension between the Obama and Clinton camps at a time of supposed party unity.

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, quickly pushed back on Tuesday. “We don't need to attack McCain” at the convention's opening events, he told a gathering of Ohio delegates. “There will be plenty of time for that.”

Obama is in a bit of a political box: He's being taunted by McCain and urged by fellow Democrats to strike back. But a sharply negative tone could jeopardize his efforts to build a bipartisan image.

Some of the party's sharpest-tongued officials were scheduled to speak Tuesday night, and there were signs they might step up their criticisms.

“Even John McCain concedes that 'We are worse off than we were four years ago,'” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., wrote in prepared remarks. “But you can't expect change from a senator who voted in lockstep with President Bush 95 percent of the time.”

Driving the criticism is some Democrats' fear that, in a week their party should hog the national spotlight, McCain is scoring too many points by airing ads exploiting the Obama-Clinton tensions and by having surrogates flood TV programs to criticize the Denver convention.

The convention so far, some former Clinton aides say, has been too gauzy and unfocused.

“If this party has a message, it's done a hell of a job hiding it,” former Clinton strategist James Carville told CNN after Monday's opening day.

Paul Begala, another former top Clinton aide, rebuked Tuesday night's scheduled keynote speaker for signaling his plans to go easy on McCain while playing up bipartisanship.

“This isn't the Richmond Chamber of Commerce,” Begala said of former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's planned speech.

The criticisms clearly stung Dean, the former Vermont governor who is not particularly close to the Clintons.

“We're going to run this convention,” he told the Ohio delegates. “The Republicans are not going to run this convention, and CNN is not going to run this convention.”

The convention must be used, he said, “to make sure people know who Barack Obama is, who Joe Biden is.” Biden, a senator from Delaware, is Obama's running mate.

Dean also urged delegates to ignore talk of continued rifts between the Obama camp and backers of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who narrowly lost the party's nomination.

“There is not a unity problem,” Dean told the Ohioans. If anyone doubts that, he said, “wait 'til you see Hillary Clinton's speech tonight.”

All nominating conventions try to undermine the other party's candidate without damaging their own, who must present a compelling, likeable face to the public. Surrogates usually handle the attack-dog role, but it's hardly the proper task for the candidate's wife.

And since Michelle Obama was Monday night's featured speaker, it was not the day to hammer McCain, Dean said.

“We set out last night to make sure that America knew that Michelle Obama was going to be the kind of first lady that they could all be proud of, and that was a lot like them,” he said in an interview. “All this stuff about McCain, and this hitting back hard enough, that's all political blah-blah.”

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, echoed Dean's view. “My inclination is you have to be careful about attacking McCain,” the Democrat said in an interview with The Associated Press, because the Republican's life story – which includes more than five years as a Vietnam prisoner of war – makes him a sympathetic figure to many Americans.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who stumped for John Kerry after his own presidential try failed four years ago, also defended Obama's approach.

“I was the red meat guy in '04,” he told the AP. “I think that Senator Obama has tried to run a campaign of not attacking and of not polarizing the country, and it has worked for him so far. Going down the road, I don't know whether he needs to do more attacking and red meat or not, but I will say that he has an expert in eating red meat in Joe Biden, so I'm not worried about it.”