Bob's blog: Campaign kicks into high gear

The war on women's been a major headline lately, but just as important to both sides is the effort to win over Hispanic votes. Hispanics make up 16 percent of the U.S. population and their numbers are growing - especially in some key battleground states like Florida and Colorado. Polls show Romney's stance on immigration might already be hurting him, but the Republicans insist that Latinos - just like the majority of all voters - care more about the economy than any other issue at stake. If that's really the case, it could be a different ball game.

I'm anxious to hear what former Mississippi Governor, former Chairman of the Republican Party Haley Barbour and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (who is a National Co-Chairman for the Obama Campaign) have to say about this issue and this week's developments on the campaign trail. Barbour penned a memo on behalf of the group Resurgent Republic, who organized four focus groups among Hispanic voters in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Las Vegas, Nevada. They found, "While the Republican brand is viewed unfavorably among these Hispanics, President Obama's image is tarnished due to an anemic economy and failure to pass immigration reform." 

This week's Google+ Hangout focused on this very issue. John Dickerson talked to the DNC's Gabriela Domenzain, the RNC's Bettina Inclan, Hispanic Leadership Network's Jennifer Sevilla Korn, Founder of LatinoRebels.com, Julio Ricardo Varela, Actor and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Esai Morales and America's Voice Executive Director Frank Sharry. They all had some very interesting things to say about Romney's chances at winning the Hispanic vote - and why so many Latinos are disappointed in the president. They also had lots to say about a potential Vice President Marco Rubio - you'd think having a Hispanic on the ticket would be a huge boost for the Romney campaign, but you might be surprised with what our panel had to say about that. Watch the full video on YouTube, and on Sunday we'll show highlights of it on the show.

Then, I'll talk to California's Gov. Jerry Brown. I've been covering Brown since his first election to the California Governor's Mansion in 1974. He served two terms then and in 2008 decided to try his hand at the job again - this time leading a state with a massive budget shortfall. He's told state legislators they need to "man up" and make some painful cuts to start addressing the at least $9.2 billion budget shortfall his state faces. But can he get them to do it? He also wants to put a "millionaire's tax" of sorts on the ballot in November - how will he sell it to voters? Did he get any inspiration from the president's Buffett rule? And overall, how is politicking different now than it was thirty years ago? He's always got interesting things to say, and I'm looking forward to our conversation on Sunday.

Finally, we'll look at the state of the War on Terror about one year after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Who are our enemies? What do we know about them? We'll talk to TIME Magazine contributor Graham Allison who writes about Pakistan in this week's TIME, Peter Bergen, another TIME contributor will join the conversation. He wrote this week's fascinating TIME piece, The Last Days of Osama Bin Laden. Joining these two will be the Washington Post's David Ignatius, who wrote a series based on documents uncovered during the raid and CBS News Senior Correspondent John Miller, who actually interviewed Osama Bin Laden in May 1998.

Check your local listings so you don't miss a minute of the news this Sunday on CBS.