Republicans released a draft of their party’s 2008 platform (WashPost) ahead of next week’s Republican National Convention in Minnesota, according to several news reports.  The Washington Post says the draft breaks with Sen. John McCain’s proposed policies in several areas.

–The draft includes a section on “addressing climate change responsibly,” marking the first time the Republican platform has contained an acknowledgment that human activity may contribute to climate change. “The same human activity that has brought freedom and opportunity to billions has also increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Increased atmospheric carbon has a warming effect on the earth,” the draft says.

–The document does not mention a policy of capping carbon emissions, like the one McCain advocates.  It also warns against “doomsday climate change scenarios peddled by aficionados of centralized command-and-control government.”

–Bloomberg reports that on immigration, the platform says the Party opposes any move to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. “The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity,” it says.