Puzzle me this, how is it that we are in a War and its not mentioned in either Presidential campaign

[Martin Eden]

71. Because mentioning it helps neither campaign.

The Romney campaign doesn't mention it because advocaing the expenditure of more blood & treasure in Afghanistan would be highly unpopular, and also because Obama killed Osama.

Obama doesn't mention it because the war is very unpopular with his base, and trumpeting his current policy would only serve to suppress voter enthusiam.

All of which begs the question:
If the war is so unpopular, why doesn't one or both of the candidates advocate getting us out of there ASAP?

Well, Romney won't advocate that because his real "constituents" very much want perpetual war, and doing the old "cut and run" would not sit well with flag-waving teabaggers who don't like him much to begin with.

For Obama, accelerating the withdrawal of troops before this election would win him very few voters sitting on the fence, but would revive the rightwing meme that Democrats are weak on national security. Scaremongering about the consequences of letting the Taliban retake Afghanistan would shift focus away from a lot of things that are playing out in Obama's favor right now.

Disclaimer:
In this post I am not advocating any course of action, either with foreign/military policy or political electoral strategy.
I am attempting to answer the qustion in the OP as best I can.