As the bitter Democratic primary caboose careens into its latest stop in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, has anyone noticed what has been happening in this amazing race?

Imagine if President Bush, after 9/11, simply declared war on oil and put the whole nation behind ending our crippling dependence on it.

Imagine if we had spent the money we allocated to the war in Iraq toward eliminating the oil addiction. The tab for the Iraq war hovers around the $1 trillion mark and grows at a clip of at least $12 billion a month. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the cost through 2017, including hidden costs such as veterans’ benefits, could total $2.4 trillion.

Word last month that the FBI was opening up a criminal probe into the subprime mortgage mess should come as no surprise. Greed usually sprouts corruption.

Is this the strangest election America has ever witnessed?

Maybe not, but it certainly is in my lifetime.

Republicans this week are breathing a deep sigh of relief.

What was seen as a washout for them this coming November — with big losses expected in the House and Senate and a catastrophic loss of the White House — is now shaping up to be less ominous.