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Democratic strategist Bill Carrick said an ad campaign by an outside group could backfire for Republicans and predicted McCain would not tolerate supporters exploiting the issue on his behalf. ''Republicans tend to oversalivate about some of these things,'' said Carrick, who has worked on several presidential campaigns. ''You're not going to see as much of the wink-wink and looking the other way from Sen. McCain that you've seen on some of the past campaigns.''

Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio said many swing voters in the fall will not buy Obama's claim that he can no more disown Wright than his own white grandmother. ''You get to pick your minister,'' he said. ''You don't pick your grandma.''

Obama said in an interview with Philadelphia Sports Radio station WIP 610 Thursday that the point he was making about his grandmother is not that she holds racial animosity, but ''she is a typical white person.''

''If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, there's a reaction that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way. And that's just the nature of race in our society,'' he said.

Obama should have distanced himself from Wright, whose most contentious remarks were made years ago, before the matter became a big campaign issue this month, Fabrizio said. The delay, he said, will cause people to question ''what Barack Obama thinks and believes.''

Republican consultant John Feehery said the Wright matter will hurt Obama in his ongoing contest with Clinton, even though the New York senator is almost certain to leave the racially explosive topic alone.

''Swing voters, ethnic voters, Catholic voters are not going to like what Obama did'' in stopping short of repudiating Wright, said Feehery, naming groups that have rallied to Clinton in industrial states and could boost her chances in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

Obama could have gone farther in distancing himself from Wright without seriously antagonizing black voters, Feehery said. ''He's already got the African American vote,'' he said, and is unlikely to lose it.

At least one conservative activist already has posted a video on the Web site YouTube with Wright's most incendiary remarks mixed with snippets from Obama speeches and interviews, which are edited to make the senator seem to be sputtering and unpatriotic. The Politico, a Washington-based newspaper, reported that the two-minute video was the work of Lee Habeeb, a former producer of the Laura Ingraham Show, a conservative talk program.

The Politico quoted Habeeb as saying, ''I'm trying to join the YouTube generation and have some fun. We wanted to see if we could get in circulation.''

The video was distributed Thursday by a McCain campaign aide, Soren Dayton, who subsequently was reprimanded and suspended. ''We have been very clear on the type of campaign we intend to run and this staffer acted in violation of our policy,'' campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said.

Yet the controversy is sure to continue.

''Are the Republicans going to keep bringing it up? Of course they will; it's hard to imagine they wouldn't.'' said Democratic pollster and strategist Mark Mellman. ''My guess is you'll see Wright on the one hand and Obama's denunciation of Wright appearing in some ads down the road. It is what it is.''

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