WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Capitol was evacuated shortly after noon Monday after the building briefly lost power. . . . Mary-Beth Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for Potomac Electric Power Co., said the electricity shut off automatically after there was ''a momentary drop in voltage due to customer operations up the lines'' away from the Capitol.

A loss of electrical power in the Capitol Building panicked Republican congressmen when Capitol police unthinkingly told them that they had "completely lost all power" without explaining that the loss was electrical.

Majority Leader John Boehner, who assumed that authorities had cut the electricity in order to effect a mass arrest of corrupt politicians, tried to throw himself from the visitors gallery. Because of the darkness, however, he ended up throwing himself into the lap of a lobbyist for a powerful oil consortium, he later claimed.

As he saw "the blackness closing in," Tom Delay resigned and attempted to surrender himself to the Capitol Police, telling them that he had lost "the great game" and that "the money" had been invested in rare coins.

Democrats took the power loss calmly, saying that it was just "business as usual." Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi knitted a sweater for a constituent throughout the ordeal.