Bob's Blog: Let the Race Begin

WASHINGTON (CBS News) - After months of speculation, CBS News has confirmed that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to announce her candidacy for president on Sunday. How will her announcement affect the race? As the 2016 race heats up, there will certainly be a lot for us to discuss on the show

Clinton isn't the only contender making news this week: Sen. Rand Paul threw his hat in the race for the Republican nomination. He is an unusual politician -- not quite like the others. These days, politicians kind of homogenize, but not Paul. We'll talk to the Kentucky Republican this Sunday about the race ahead.

The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, will also be joining us to talk about the crowded Republican race for president and what challenges they'll face on the campaign trail.

On the world front, what looked to be like a historic nuclear deal with Iran now seems to be losing steam with each passing day. We'll speak with Secretary of State John Kerry about the path forward and how the U.S. and Iran can hammer out the technical details of the deal. We'll also ask about the opening of relations with Cuba - he met their foreign minister this week in Panama, the highest-level meeting in over 50 years.

Also in Panama, President Obama will likely meet Cuban President Raul Castro this weekend at the Summit of the Americas. We'll talk to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., about U.S.-Cuba relations, her bipartisan bill to end the trade embargo with Cuba and much more. We'll also talk about Hillary Clinton's candidacy.

Finally, we'll turn to our panel for analysis. Now that Clinton is in the race, who is up and who is down? As her popularity dips, how can she energize voters in the early states? This week, we'll sit down with Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal, John Heilieman of Bloomberg Politics, David Ignatius of the Washington Post, Susan Page of USA Today, and CBS News Political Director John Dickerson.

We hope you'll tune in on Sunday. Check your local listings.