U.S. Sen. Richard Burr says Sen. Ted Stevens' fate is up to the voters.

In an interview Tuesday, the Winston-Salem Republican said that the Alaska senator should not resign before his appeals are exhausted on seven felony counts of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations. 

"I think that Ted ought to be allowed whatever due process the court system provides him," Burr said.

He argued that the decision on whether Stevens should remain in the Senate should be left up to voters in Alaska, where Stevens is currently in a close race with Democrat Mark Begich. 

"Clearly it's not advantageous to him while he's under appeal necessarily to (resign)," Burr said. "Prior to the appeal being heard, the voters of Alaska will decide and I htink ultimately the ball's in their court now."

Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have said that Stevens should resign. 

Dome has heard that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is 23.

Twenty-three, you say? That's right, she's the 23rd oldest person in the U.S. Senate.

Although a recent TV ad implies that Dole is in her 90s, there's only one senator who's that advanced in age: Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who was born in 1917.

Five senators are in their 80s: Sens. Ted Stevens, Frank Lautenberg, Daniel Inouye, Daniel Akaka and John Warner.

And 19 senators, including Dole, are septuagenerians. The list includes Sens. Dianne Feinstein, Dick Lugar and Ted Kennedy, who are all older than the North Carolina's senior senator, and John McCain and Jay Rockefeller, who are younger.

The average age of a U.S. senator is currently about 63 years old, as is the median, although those numbers will drop a little in the next few years with the possible departures of Kennedy, who has a brain tumor, and Stevens, who has been indicted.

At 43, the youngest is Sen. John Sununu; the third youngest at 47, Sen. Barack Obama.

Hours after Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was indicted today, his GOP colleague Sen. Elizabeth Dole sent his money to charity.

Dole donated $10,000 from her campaign to the Society of St. Andrew, a Christian anti-hunger organization, to equal the cash received this cycle from Stevens' political action committee, Barb Barrett reports.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, was charged this afternoon by the U.S. Department of Justice with seven counts of failing to disclose more than $250,000 worth of gifts to businessmen currying his favor on federal projects.

Stevens is one of the Senate's most powerful members.

Dole received two $5,000 payments on a single day in March 2007, according to campaign finance reports.

Dole faces a tough re-election race against Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan. Hagan called on Dole today to return a total of $21,000 that Dole's campaign received from Stevens and his committee between 2001 to 2007.

More after the jump.

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