RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as carboplatin, paclitaxel, and paclitaxel poliglumex, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. It is not yet known whether giving carboplatin together with paclitaxel poliglumex is more effective than giving carboplatin together with paclitaxel in treating non-small cell lung cancer.