Chaffee would make perfect sense, but as far as I can tell (I just skimmed), it was a Senate "candidate". If it were a sitting senator, I'd think they'd bring that fact up. Who knows?
I agree -- a candidate, not an incumbent. My vote is Tom Kean, Jr.
I am almost positive it's Michael Steele of Maryland. He has used that exact wording to describe Katrina, "a monumental failure." Rhode Island doesn't have a large black population that candidates have to pander to and sing the usual b.s. litany of complaints regarding Katrina to. Maryland does.