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WASHINGTON -- Will Sen. Ted Stevens’ GOP colleagues ask him to step down following Tuesday’s grand jury indictment? At the moment there’s little more than rumors to that effect swirling around Capitol Hill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was mum earlier today when reporters asked whether the party would urge Stevens to resign.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, told reporters he did not believe the indictment would have much of an impact on GOP prospects this fall, but he said it would be up to Stevens to decide whether to remain in the race.

“I think he’ll have to wrestle with that,” Sessions said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, complained the indictment of Stevens smacked of a politically motivated attack by Democrats.

“You have to look at the timing on this. I’m suspect of what’s going on,” he told Fox News. “It’s suspicious to me.”

“I hate to think that you’ve got a whole bureaucracy (at the Justice Department) that’s basically run by Democrats. It worries me. Three months before an election?”

Congressional aides in Stevens’ office who spoke on condition of anonymity said they have not heard rumors about possible efforts to have Stevens resign.

Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich said state party officials have no plans to ask Stevens to step aside. Ruedrich said he also has not been contacted by Republican leaders in Washington on the issue.

Should Stevens resign before the Aug. 26 GOP primary, it would be up to Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican, to appoint a successor. If he remains in the race and wins the primary, and then decides to retire, it would fall to the party to pick a new candidate.

Alaska Republican Party spokesman McHugh Pierre said the party is not endorsing a candidate in the primary.

Pierre said the party was happy to see that Stevens proclaimed his innocence. He also pointed out that the charges against Stevens—seven counts of making a false statement on his financial disclosures—did not include the more serious allegations of bribery or corruption.

Asked whether the party had given any thought to replacing Stevens, Pierre said, “We’ve been exploring all of the options available to be prepared for whatever might happen. We expect a strong candidate to be on the ballot in November.”

Meanwhile, there have been numerous calls by Democrats for Republicans to return campaign donations given to them by Stevens and his political action committee.

Sens. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and John Sununu, R-N.H., have said they would give to charity the money received from Stevens.

Dole, wife of former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, gave the money to the non-profit Society of St. Andrew, according to the Kansas City Star.

Sununu “will be donating to charity the $10,000 received during this 2008 campaign cycle from Northern Lights PAC. The campaign had previously donated to charity contributions received from VECO employees who pled guilty to wrongdoing,” Sununu’s campaign manager Paul Collins told the Union Ledger.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, put out a new statement on Stevens today.

“In our legal system, a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That is fundamental in our democracy,” Inouye, a close friend of Stevens, said in the statement. “As far as I am concerned, Ted Stevens remains my friend. I believe in him.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will donate $10,000 in campaign donations he received from Sen. Ted Stevens, The Hill newspaper reported today.

McConnell, R-Ky., received $7,500 from Stevens’ Northern Lights PAC this year but will donate the money to the Wayside Christian Mission, an aide to his campaign told The Hill newspaper in Washington.

The list of Republican senators who said they will return campaign donations they received from Stevens also includes Gordon Smith of Oregon, Susan Collins of Maine and Pat Roberts of Kansas.