ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – For many Pakistanis, the battle for the White House raging in the U.S. is less about the differences between the two candidate's qualifications to be president, and more about which of the two is more likely to stop sending missile-firing drone aircraft from across the border in Afghanistan into Pakistan's tribal areas.

And in that regard, many Pakistanis are overwhelmingly in favor of Sen. Barack Obama.

Many believe that Obama will be a friend to Pakistan and change the Bush administration's policy of "hot pursuit" of terrorists inside their borders.

VIDEO: Pakistanis differ over whether an Obama or McCain White House will be best

Even more surprisingly, more than a few of the Pakistanis we spoke with were convinced that Obama is Muslim because his middle name is "Hussein," and therefore believe he may be more sympathetic to Pakistan if he were president.

"Barack Obama is for Muslims," said Osman Ali, an 18-year-old high school student in Islamabad. "I am sure he will withdraw U.S. forces from our borders and that's why I hope he will win."

Nazim Hussain, a medical student, echoed Ali. "Obama will not be like Bush," he said. "Bush had an aggressive policy towards Muslims and I'm sure that Obama will be different."

But if these Pakistanis had listened to the first presidential debate between the two candidates, they might have been surprised. Obama and Sen. John McCain were at odds over Pakistan – with McCain taking a softer stance.

Difference of approach
According to Obama, the U.S. has to deal with Pakistan in a tougher manner. Pakistan has received $10 billion in U.S. military aid and assistance and the Pakistanis have not done what needs to be done to get rid of the terrorist safe havens inside their borders.

"If the United States has al-Qaida, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out," Obama said during the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 when a question by moderator Jim Lehrer about Afghanistan lead to the issue of Pakistan. 

McCain said such threats were unhelpful. "We've got to get the support of the people of – of Pakistan," he said. He countered by stressing the need to work with the Pakistani people to help them get the border area under control.

"We're going to have to help the Pakistanis go into these areas and obtain the allegiance of the people. And it's going to be tough," he said. 

In spite of McCain's call for a new strategy in dealing with Pakistan, Salima Agha, a savvy businesswoman in Islamabad, had no time for a McCain presidency.

"I'm for Obama," she said. "He's young, he's energetic and he represents change." She added, "He's the JFK of the 21st century."

But Kulsoom Mirza, a mother of four who lives in an upscale Islamabad neighborhood, thought both candidates were highlighting strikes inside Pakistan as a way to win votes.

"Neither candidate will be good for Pakistan," she said. "God forbid that the U.S. will do to us what they have done to Afghanistan and Iraq. But it seems to me and to my family that the U.S. is intent upon destroying Pakistan as well," she said.

Mirza's views seemed to have widespread support among Pakistanis from all walks of life.

Raja Khalid, a marketing manager in Rawalpindi, agreed when asked about his views on the U.S. presidential candidates.

"It is up to the American people to decide who will be their president, Pakistan has nothing to do with it," said Khalid. "But one thing I know for sure, the U.S. policy will always be against us –that will never change." He added, "We need to distance ourselves from America."

Others echoed Khalid's sentiments and seem to see the U.S. as more of a menacing threat than an ally.

"The Americans are enemies of Muslims," said Muhammed Shabbir, who works in a laundry shop in Rawalpindi. "They do not wish us well; the Americans want to destroy us," he said.

Shabbir, who spoke in Urdu, the native language of Pakistan, grew impatient from the question as much as from the heat inside the small shop as he labored over a hot iron.

"Look," he told us, "The U.S. is responsible for all the terrorism taking place inside Pakistan today," he said, his voice becoming agitated. "The U.S. is the mastermind of all our problems because it wants to destroy Pakistan," he said.

Not mincing words, Agha, the business woman in Islamabad, said, "The U.S policy is just all wrong. The Bush administration's policy is just all wrong."

"How could the U.S. expect to invade and occupy two Muslim countries and not expect repercussions," she said. "And now they see what they have sowed."

Click here to use msnbc.com's video analyzer to watch the presidential debates and skip through to see when Pakistan was discussed.

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World Blog from NBC's Richard Engel: The 'Talibanization' of Pakistan's biggest city

MANILA, Philippines – I was standing outside an old church in the poor Tondo neighborhood of Manila, watching people line up for subsidized rice, when I met Jose Torres. The 34-year-old charity worker got straight to the point.

"It's getting close," he told me. "I've been watching it on the Internet. Very close."

It took me a few moments to realize Torres was talking about the U.S. election.

VIDEO: Filipinos weigh in on the U.S. election

"It's the election of the century, what with Obama, but I think McCain will win." He couldn't say quite why he thought McCain will win, but Jose has clearly been crunching the numbers, and meeting an American television news team was a chance to present his bit of punditry.

"We depend on the U.S., even though we are independent, so the November election is going to affect us," he said.

Obama-mania
Mostly though, it's Obama who gets the attention on the streets here. In another part of Tondo, a crowd of young men flashed "V" for victory signs at us. "Obama," they shouted, while a young woman emerged from a side alley to tell me she was sure Obama would beat "that other guy."

Everybody seemed to have heard of Obama. Even in this impoverished neighborhood, he has captured people's imagination and there is a notion – however vague – that he represents something different. He embodies the rise of an outsider that even Manila's poorest can identify with.

Politics in the Philippines is rowdy and celebrity-driven; there's also a great deal of cynicism towards politicians.

"I think Obama will win," Diosdado Iranon, a rice farmer, told me. "I think he has the key to change."

The Philippines also has perhaps the strongest historic ties to the U.S. of any country in Asia. It was once home to vast U.S. military bases, and U.S. Special Forces are currently in the south of the country advising in the fight against a local insurgency.

So there is a strong interest in the American election, with two recent events underlining just how dependent the Philippines is on outside forces, particularly from the U.S.

Closely tied
The U.S. financial crisis has been headline news, dominating the raucous media here in recent days, as newspapers have outbid each other with speculation about whether Wall Street's mess will drag the Philippine economy down with it. The answer is probably not, but it has been a good read.

"When the U.S. sneezes, the Philippines always catches a cold," ran one newspaper headline.

And soaring world food prices this year have rocked a country that is now the world's largest importer of rice, a painful reminder of how vulnerable they are to international trade.

The Philippines political elite has latched on to Obama's fund raising methods, his use of the Internet and harvesting of small online donations. Filipino politics are notoriously money-driven, and they've been asking whether Obama's system might serve as a model for the 2010 election here.

"It's the first time so many youngsters have been brought into politics," former Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, told me. "That's a breakthrough," which she also thought could serve as a model for the Philippines.

She also thought that Obama's experience as a boy in Indonesia – however fleeting – gives him a better understanding of Asia. "That's good for us," she said – a common view in this region, even if the polls do show he could well lose to "that other guy."

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