Washington ? U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts got to celebrate Halloween a day early Thursday.

The jump-start on the holiday was courtesy of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who arrived in Roberts’ office — dressed up as the Kansas Republican.

Roberts looked perplexed for several seconds when Hagel walked in wearing a mask of Roberts’ face, a bald head wig and a robe of Kansas State University purple.

“Words fail me,” said Roberts, who is known for his sense of humor.

“They don’t often do,” shot back Hagel, who makes a habit of dressing up as a well-known Washington figure for Halloween.

This year, he choose Roberts, whose profile has risen this year as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on which he is presiding over a contentious inquiry into prewar intelligence on Iraqi weapons.

“I wanted to cheer the chairman up — he’s been having a hard time for a couple of weeks,” Hagel said.

The two senators walked together to the Senate floor when a vote was called. Hagel observed Senate decorum by not entering the chamber; instead, he stood in the door and waved to baffled colleagues, and he kissed a startled Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski on the cheek.

Hagel also presented the Kansan with a framed portrait of Roberts with devil horns and a goatee doodled on the face. Then he scribbled: “To My Scary Kansas Friend Pat Roberts, Happy Halloween, 2003. Your Monster Friend to the North, Chuck Hagel.”

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., left, laughs at Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., right, who dressed up as Roberts for a pre-Halloween surprise. Hagel paid his costumed visit Thursday to Roberts' Capitol Hill office. Hagel traditionally dresses up as a popular Washington figure for Halloween.