Chemotherapy and Hormone Therapy as First-Line Therapy in Treating Postmenopausal Women With Metastatic or Locally Advanced Breast Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Estrogen can cause the growth of breast cancer cells. Hormone therapy using letrozole may fight breast cancer by lowering the amount of estrogen the body makes. It is not yet known whether giving chemotherapy before hormone therapy is more effective than giving hormone therapy before chemotherapy in treating breast cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying chemotherapy to see how well it works when given before or after hormone therapy as first-line therapy in treating postmenopausal women with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer.