Welcome to the Monday presidential primary brief provided by Alabama Today. Every week you can find your latest headlines on the presidential primary races as we count down the days until Election Day.

237 days until AL Presidential Primary

491 days until Election Day

Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21, 2016; Democratic July 25-28, 2016

Weekly Headlines:

• Chris Christie launches 2016 presidential bid
• Jim Webb announces 2016 presidential run
• Scott Walker formally enters 2016 presidential election

Press Clips:

What Jim Webb would need to do to win (NY Times 7/3/15)

Mr. Webb’s voters may look a lot like him: ideologically idiosyncratic white men moved more by economic fairness and a noninterventionist foreign policy than cultural liberalism. His opposition to the Iraq war, among other foreign engagements, could offer Mr. Webb an attentive audience among some Democrats in dovish Iowa. And there may be a small band of populists and veterans in South Carolina who will Eind his background and message appealing.

New Hampshire Democrats puzzled by Lincoln Chaffee (ABC News 7/3/15)

Presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee stands before a few dozen people at a meeting of New Hampshire’s Belknap County Democrats. The Republican-­‐turned-­‐independent-­‐turned-­‐ Democrat gets nods of approval when he tells them he was the only Republican senator to vote against authorizing the war in Iraq. Then smiles turn to laughter when he pitches another idea: The U.S. should switch to the metric system.

Scott Walker calls for respect on same-­sex marriage ruling (CNN 6/28/15)

Scott Walker said same-­sex marriage proponents should respect the religious opinions of those who disapprove of same-­sex couples having the right to legally wed. Speaking in Denver at the Western Conservatives Summit on Saturday, the Wisconsin governor spelled out his criteria for judges and weighed in on the religious liberty debate. “To me, it is not freedom from religion, it is freedom of religion, which ultimately means we have the right to practice our religious beliefs and not have others interfere,” he said in an onstage interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Report: Joe Biden’s son told him to run in 2016 (Politico 6/29/15)

Vice President Joe Biden’s sons reportedly urged him to run for the White House in 2016, according to The Wall Street Journal. Biden’s son Beau, who died last month of brain cancer at the age of 46, wanted his father to get into the race, according to the report. “It’s no secret that Beau wanted him to run,” Dick Harpootlian, a former chairman of South Carolina’s Democratic Party and a longtime Biden supporter, told the Journal. “If he does what Beau wanted him to do, he’ll run.”

As left wins culture battles, GOP gains opportunity to pivot for 2016 (NY Times 6/27/15) 

A cascade of events suggests that 2015 could be remembered as a Liberal Spring: the moment when deeply divisive and consuming questions of race, sexuality and broadened access to health care were settled in quick succession, and social tolerance was cemented as a cornerstone of American public life. Yet what appears, in headlines and celebrations across the country, to represent an unalloyed victory for Democrats, in which lawmakers and judges alike seemed to give in to the leftward shift of public opinion, may contain an opening for the Republican Party to move beyond losing battles and seemingly lost causes.

Rick Perry: Republicans must reach out to black voters (CBS News 7/2/15)

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry said Thursday that Republicans have lost their “moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln” after having given up on trying to win the support of African-­‐Americans. Perry, who declared his presidential bid at the beginning of June, told an audience at the National Press Club that it’s time for Republicans to “reclaim our heritage as the only party in our country founded on the principle of freedom for African-­‐ Americans.” He said Republicans have been “content to lose the black vote,” because they could win elections without African-­‐American support.

Poll: Bush, Trump rising nationally for GOP, but both trail Clinton (CNN 7/1/15)

With nearly all of the expected 2016 presidential candidates formally in the race, a new CNN/ORC national poll Einds two recent entrants to the GOP Eield on the rise, while Hillary Clinton maintains her position atop the Democratic Eield, though holding a slightly slimmer lead. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and businessman Donald Trump top the list of GOP presidential contenders following their back-­‐to-­‐back campaign launches in mid-­‐June, and are the only two Republican candidates holding double-­‐digit support among Republicans and Republican-­‐leaning independents.

Lindsey Graham tells Iowan: I don’t want you to vote for me (CBS News 7/3/15) 

Conservative Sen. Lindsey Graham has made it clear he’s extremely concerned about the threat of Islamic terrorism, but he isn’t willing to outlaw a whole religion over it. When a voter in Iowa suggested barring Islam in the U.S. in response to ISIS, Graham quickly shut him down, the Des Moines Register reports. “You know what, I’m not your candidate,” Graham said, cutting him off. “I don’t want you to vote for me. I couldn’t disagree with you more.”

Romney to host Christie, Rubio in New Hampshire (Politico 7/3/15)

Mitt Romney is opening up his sprawling New Hampshire vacation home to 2016 rivals Marco Rubio and Chris Christie this weekend. Christie and his wife Pat are planning to have dinner with the former GOP presidential candidate on Friday night at his home near Lake Winnipesaukee and spend the night, according to a report in The Washington Post. On Saturday they plan to walk in the town’s Fourth of July parade, which is a tradition for the Romney family.