By Tim Cocks

BAGHDAD, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Four years ago, U.S. troops in Iraq fretted about their buddies being killed in bomb blasts and wondered how the presidential race would affect the war.

Now, with violence in Iraq sharply down and the U.S. economy in danger, they are more worried about what the winner of the Nov. 4 election will do to rescue their savings and properties from economic collapse.

"I've been following this election more than any before ... The economy is a huge issue for us," said Sergeant First Class Nathan Shay, a U.S. soldier stationed in Baghdad.

"When you call home and you hear someone lost his job ... That scares me," said Shay, who comes from Wisconsin.

The U.S. economic crisis has become the central issue in the final days of campaigning between Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, eclipsing the war in which more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers have died since 2003.

"Yeah, there's a war going on, but I do have a family at home," said Lieutenant Mike Meyers, a voting assistance officer at Forward Operating Base Prosperity, a sprawling operation situated around a bombed-out former palace of Saddam Hussein.

Meyers said about 45 percent of the soldiers at Prosperity, just one of the bases where the approximately 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are stationed, had voted, by casting absentee ballots.

U.S. military personnel are not permitted to say which candidate they voted for while on duty. But soldiers do say that, even after voting, they are following the race more closely than in the past.

Some get their election coverage from large-screen televisions placed in military dining halls. Others scour the Internet for news on their candidate.

Sergeant Timothy Minnor of Michigan checks the Web at least a few minutes a day to see what his candidate has to say.

The U.S. military has historically been a conservative, Republican-leaning institution. Many of its foot soldiers have traditionally hailed from red states.

Meyers said that was changing, especially among younger soldiers.

"As far as I can tell from the people I've been with, it's an even split, 50-50. That's very different," he said.

Many are intrigued by the historic dimension of the contest.

"You've got a woman who's possibly gonna be vice president and an African American who's possibly gonna be president. Who wouldn't want to be in on that?" Meyers said.

"Who wants to say, 'I could have been a part of history but I wasn't 'cause I was too lazy to fill out a form.'"

Economy aside, soldiers say they still want the winning candidate to start working on a plan to bring them home.

U.S. and Iraqi officials are under pressure as they struggle to reach a conclusion on a security pact that will provide a legal framework for the U.S. presence in Iraq after year's end.

The agreement, if finalised, would allow U.S. troops to stay through 2011.

"Everyone wants to see it come to an end. We've been over here for five years," said soldier Ronald Jefferson, from Florida. "We've made huge progress. We'd like ... to step back."

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