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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Even if Hillary Rodham Clinton and her aides do not mention Barack Obama's fiery-tongued spiritual mentor, don't expect the Illinois senator's well-publicized speech Tuesday to make the controversy disappear, political strategists said this week.

Reporters, talk-show hosts and others will keep asking about Obama's close and long-standing relationship to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose most bombastic comments came to dominate the Democratic presidential contest recently, the strategists predicted in interviews. In video clips playing on Internet sites, Wright can be heard arguing that HIV-AIDS was a U.S. government plot to wipe out ''people of color,'' and that God should ''damn'' the United States for its racist policies.

Should Obama become the Democratic nominee, conservative activists are virtually certain to remind voters of Obama's ties to Wright, perhaps by using the videos in TV ads, several strategists said.

''He can give a speech a week, and it's not going to make the issue go away,'' said Chris LaCivita, a Republican adviser who helped create the ''Swift Boat'' ads that severely damaged John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

In his much-discussed speech from Philadelphia on Tuesday, Obama strongly condemned Wright's most controversial statements. But he did not repudiate Wright or his overall ministry, saying the man who officiated at his wedding is like a family member.

The decision will haunt Obama, LaCivita said, because his political success is built on his image as a uniter and almost messianic figure who eschews divisive strategies. When that image is juxtaposed to Wright's outbursts comparing the United States to the Ku Klux Klan, among other things, voters will wonder if they misread Obama and his true character, he said.

Several analysts said they doubted that Republican presidential candidate John McCain or his campaign would overtly mention Obama's ties to Wright because it could look heavy-handed and racially inflammatory. McCain has said he wants a respectful contest, and on Thursday, he suspended an aide who distributed a provocative YouTube video linking Obama to Wright's words.

But third-party groups, similar to the ones that criticized Kerry, might use the issue.

If they do, LaCivita recommends a light touch and simple approach.

''From a visual perspective, don't make it political,'' he said. An announcer might say, '''Obama preaches unity, but his friends don't,' and boom, run the tape,'' he said. ''Why do anything else? Let people make up their own minds.''

Democratic strategists said Republicans run the risk of creating a backlash, but they added that Obama will nevertheless have to be prepared to respond.

Jonathan Prince, a Democratic strategist who helped run John Edwards's presidential campaign, said Obama or Clinton will face attacks from Republicans and ''are going to have to be incredibly vigilant to push back against all comers on those fronts.''

''If he's the nominee, it's both a challenge but also an opportunity to engage the country in this subject matter,'' Prince said. ''The general electorate is not paying attention right now. Barack Obama will be the first to tell you it's not a once and done speech.''

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