Senate Republicans are seeking to capitalize on the fall legislative calendar by asking GOP supporters to answer an e-mail survey about what the party’s priorities should be — and donate some money while they’re at it. [IMGCAP(1)]

The survey, distributed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, asks people to provide input on what issues the GOP should address when it returns.

“As we enter the final stretch of campaigning for the November elections, on which one of the following issues should our Republican Party focus?” reads the e-mail missive penned by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

In the survey whose subject line is “Bill Frist asks for your opinion,” recipients are offered 10 subject areas, ranging from values to economic growth and job creation to choose from. Upon finishing the survey, the person is asked to make a contribution.

The e-mail was originally distributed by Frist on Aug. 9 to supporters of his Volunteer political action committee.

“I am writing to ask for your input to help us shape the message and agenda of our Republican Party as we head into the Convention and the final stretch of campaigning for the November elections,” Frist wrote.

The original e-mail from the Senate Majority Leader provided a more detailed online survey and did not ask for campaign contributions. The NRSC took the Frist e-mail, shortened it and then sent it out Aug. 12 with the fundraising plea.

Olympics Bound. Neil Weare, the Capitol Hill-based press secretary to Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), headed to Athens over the weekend to compete in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.

The 24-year-old middle-distance runner will represent Guam in the 1,500-meter men’s preliminary race this Friday.

Weare, who missed the opening ceremonies, just barely escaped being shut out of the games altogether. After being chosen by the Guam Track and Field Association to represent his country earlier this spring, his selection was overruled — “illegitimately,” he says — by the Guam National Olympic Committee. Weare appealed the move to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, and won, but he didn’t get word of the decision until early last Friday morning.

Weare, a 2002 graduate of Lewis and Clark College, has participated in numerous high-profile competitions over the years, including the 2003 World Championships in Paris.

— Mark Preston and Bree Hocking