HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Senator Kerry’s decision to make his service in Vietnam the linchpin of his presidential campaign has stirred news coverage here of his campaign and piqued the interest of many in this country’s younger set.

“We saw pictures of John Kerry as a soldier,” said a 20-year-old business student, Le Huynh Khang, as he sat in a trendy Saigon cafe.

“We see him on the news a lot,” said another student, Nguyen Minh Thang.

Mr. Nguyen said many Vietnamese support Mr. Kerry, largely because of their distaste for the policies of President Bush. “I think they are sick of Iraq,” Mr. Nguyen said, adding that he thinks Mr. Kerry might be “less oppressive than Bush.” Mr. Le said some Vietnamese also like Mr. Kerry because of his political ties to President Clinton, who is popular here. “They know he’s the party of Clinton. He always brings peace,” Mr. Le said. A well-connected American lawyer who is a longtime Saigon resident said many in Vietnam’s elite share the students’ preference for Mr. Kerry. “From the Vietnamese perspective, he is a better choice,” said the attorney, Frederick Burke.

“He was really responsible for the reestablishment of diplomatic relations and economic relations,” Mr. Burke said. He said Mr. Kerry and Senator McCain of Arizona led the drive for rapprochement but that Mr. Kerry was the one seen in Vietnam most often.

“It wouldn’t have gotten done without him,” the lawyer said. He also traced the support for Mr. Kerry to anger over Iraq.

“People in Vietnam, like people in a lot of places, give the benefit of doubt to the American people but are not very happy about what the administration is doing in Iraq,” Mr. Burke said. “I think Iraq struck a particular chord because they have been under U.S. bombs before.”

Officially, Vietnam’s Communist government is keeping mum about its preferences in the November election.

At a press conference in April, a foreign journalist asked a spokesman for Vietnam’s foreign ministry for his reaction to the war America fought here over 30 years ago becoming a “hot topic” in this year’s presidential race.

“We do not comment on topics debated in the United States during the presidential election campaigns,” the spokesman, Le Dung, said tersely, according to a transcript posted on the ministry’s Web site. “We contend that these are merely activities of candidates for the U.S. presidential election.”

While the government maintains complete control over the broadcast and print press, Vietnamese are aware of the prominence Mr. Kerry is giving to his wartime activities. Accounts of American politics are often translated without comment from foreign wire services, or newspapers such as the Washington Post.

A July 31 story in a local newspaper called Mr. Kerry’s address to the Democratic convention two days earlier “the most important speech in John Kerry’s political life.”

“He read it in front of 13 Vietnam veterans who fought with him 30 years ago in the Mekong Delta. John Kerry wants to send the message to American voters that the time he served in Vietnam will help him become commander in chief,” the article said.

One Vietnamese with close contacts in the publishing field said the government has ordered newspapers to be restrained in their reporting about Mr. Kerry.

“They’ve told them, ‘Don’t write too many nice things about Kerry, unless he wins.’ If Bush wins, it could be bad for relations with the United States,” said the press analyst, who asked not to be identified.

While one might expect Mr. Kerry’s reliance on his wartime exploits to ruffle some feathers here, there’s no indication that it has.

“I don’t care. The war was a long time ago,” said Pham Phi Hung, 32, a seafood broker in Saigon. “Right now, nobody in Vietnam remembers that. “

Mr. Pham exaggerated, but he wasn’t far from the truth. According to Census Bureau figures, 59% of Vietnamese were born after the war ended in 1975. About 15% more were probably too young to remember the war in any detail. That means only about one in four Vietnamese are likely to have a clear memory of the conflict.

In the Vietnamese capital, those old enough to remember the fighting can often be found strolling around Hoan Kiem Lake. Two elderly residents of the city told an American visitor that their experience with the war has left them committed pacifists.

“At the moment, the whole world is against war. They want peace always. War is the cause of all misery,” said a 79-year-old resident who would give only his first name, Tuan. He sees Mr. Bush as a perpetrator of aggression.

“Mr. Bush now causes much misery in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Tuan said.

Another man, who also would give only his first name, said Vietnam has never really recovered from what people here call the American War.

“The war has been over for a long time, but the consequences live on,” said Lajos, 74. He blamed Mr. Bush for failing to address the problems.

“Bush just talks. He doesn’t do anything. Look at the poor state of the Vietnamese people,” Lajos said. He said he holds out hope for Mr. Kerry. “Maybe he will be better. Maybe he will change things.”

Not everyone is so critical of Mr. Bush. Mr. Pham said he admired the president’s willingness to put America first.

“Bush, he does everything for his country. I like him,” Mr. Pham said. He cited the Bush administration’s decisions to put tariffs on catfish and shrimp because of alleged “dumping” by Vietnamese producers.

“The anti-dumping thing is not good for our country, but that is the way he does it to keep Americans’ jobs. It is very hard for us, but that is the way,” Mr. Pham said.

Americans who live in Vietnam said the bulk of the criticism they hear from Vietnamese pertains to the trade measures.

“There is a lot of ill will generated by that,” Mr. Burke said. “As soon as they start becoming successful with any given product, whether catfish, shrimp or garments, each time we kind of slap them back,” he said.

Despite the frictions, most Vietnamese openly express pro-American sentiments.

As an emblem, the American flag is commonplace, especially in the south. It’s on car headrests, stickers, and the masks many women wear while commuting on the polluted city streets.

Vietnamese who say they were injured by a defoliant American forces used during the war, Agent Orange, have recently adopted a classically American stance to resolving the problem. They sued in federal court in New York and are seeking to have the case heard as a class action.

Still, there is little talk of American style political freedom in this country. A group that monitors countries’ human rights records, Freedom House, has given Vietnam the lowest possible rating in the area of political rights. The organization describes Vietnam as “not free.”

The State Department has described Vietnam’s human rights record as poor and has accused the country of sanctioning “serious abuses.”

The criticism does not seem to have swayed the regime.

On Saturday, the state-run English language newspaper, Viet Nam News, reported that nine residents of Vietnam’s central highlands were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for “fomenting disorder” and “undermining national unity.” Following a two-day trial, a court ruled that the group was attempting to set up a breakaway state within Vietnam. Another charge against the dissidents was that they formed “an illegal organization called the ‘Degar Protestant Church.'”

In July, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would limit American economic aid to Vietnam until the country’s human rights record improves. The Vietnamese government adamantly opposes the bill.