Iraqis are following this week’s U.S. election, but the big news here is the effort to forge a new security agreement that would keep American troops here for most of the new president’s first term.

The contest between Barack Obama and John McCain has attracted most attention in Kurdistan, the three provinces of northern Iraq where the Kurds have enjoyed self-rule since 1991.

Several Kurdish newspapers have dedicated full pages to the U.S. campaign. Most papers say they fear Obama would pay less attention to the Kurds, who have used their close ties to the U.S. to bolster their political clout in Iraq.

Elsewhere, many Iraqis appear less concerned, despite striking differences between Obama and McCain over the war.

Obama opposed the conflict from the start and promises to end it. McCain was a strong supporter of the 2003 invasion as well as the troop surge. He promises to pursue the war to victory.

But many Iraqis say they believe the new president will look at Iraq differently once the votes are in. They can’t imagine a U.S. president anxious to leave a country with such oil wealth and strategic position in the Middle East.

Haider Abdul-Muhsin, a 35-year-old Shiite bus driver in Baghdad, said he’s seen American presidents come and go but “we saw no difference in their dealings with Iraq.”

“I don’t care who wins the U.S. elections because it is the institutions, not individuals, that decide U.S. long-term policies,” he said.

Outside of Kurdistan, that seeming indifference has been reflected in newspaper and broadcast coverage.

“Our coverage of the U.S. election is not heavy because we believe that the result of the elections will not have a direct impact on the future of Iraq,” said Ahmed Abdul-Majid, chief editor of Azzaman, a major Baghdad newspaper.

“There is no difference between McCain and, Obama because both of them will follow the strategic policies drawn up by decision-making circles,” he said.

Abdul-Halim Saleh, senior editor at the government-owned newspaper Al-Sabah, offered a similar view: “In the end, strategic policies made in the United States will not be affected by the changing of the administrations.”

The idea that institutions and not presidents determine U.S. policy helps explain why the security agreement commands so much attention. The agreement, under negotiation for months, would keep American troops in Iraq for three more years but give Iraqis a greater role in deciding U.S. military operations.

It would also take U.S. troops off the streets of Baghdad and other major cities by next summer, giving Iraqi soldiers and police a greater role.

But critics believe gives Iraqis too little control of their own country. The government has asked the U.S. to agree to changes in the draft before submitting it to parliament, which must approve it by Dec. 31 when the U.N. mandate expires.

Iraqi officials say they expect a U.S. response only after Tuesday’s election.

Depsite modest campaign coverage, the government television station plans live reports from Washington on Tuesday. And, naturally, Iraqis have their favorites in the race.

Those who favor a quick departure for the Americans tend to favor Obama; those who want the U.S. to stay longer are rooting for McCain.

Farid Asasard, director of the Center of the Strategic Studies in Kurdistan, said Kurdish politicians believe McCain will maintain the special relationship that began in 1991 when the U.S. and Britain protected the Kurdish breakaway region from Saddam Hussein.

“I don’t think that the Democrats will support the Kurds in Iraq,” said Sardar Mohammed, 42, a teacher in Kurdistan. “They declared that they would reduce their presence in Iraq to concentrate more on Afghanistan in contrast to the Republicans.”

Walid Khalid, a 21-year-old Sunni college student from Baghdad, said he hopes Obama will win because he is more likely to withdraw U.S. troops quickly.

“I think he will take a more reasonable attitude toward my country than the Republicans who were behind the invasion and destruction of Iraq,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Yahya Barzanji in Kurdistan and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.