DES MOINES -- Four standing ovations later, Cory Booker walked off the stage with an "Amen!"

If forlorn Iowa Democrats weren't quite mouthing the words "President Booker," they certainly seemed open to the idea by the end of a rousing 45-minute speech on Saturday night at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual gala.

Just hours earlier, Booker had walked off the U.S. Senate floor from a failed Democratic effort (50-48) to block the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court and onto a private jet, which whisked him off to the Hy Vee Hall in Des Moines.

"You are never defined in life by what happens to you," Booker had told the crowd of 1,200 somewhat shell-shocked souls. "You're defined by how you respond."

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks during the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Fall Gala, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Democrats here have had a lot of bad happen to them in the last four years, and not just the Kavanaugh confirmation: Two years ago, they lost both chambers of their statehouse and, two years before that, the governorship, thanks in some part to Gov. Chris Christie's efforts. They also saw Hillary Clinton lose the state to Donald Trump by almost 9 points.

The mood wasn't quite funereal, but as the night began there were more grimaces than smiles at the event that simultaneously raises funds for candidates of statewide office and serves as an ersatz debutante's ball for 2020 presidential contenders.

But anyone who's been to Newark will tell you Cory Booker gives great hugs, and Iowa's demoralized Democrats got a big ol' squeeze from him Saturday night.

"I decided to change what I was going to share with you, once I decided I knew what the outcome was going to be," said Booker, referring to the 50-48 Senate floor vote confirming a judge accused of attempted sexual assault to the highest court in the land.

"I got to where I am today because of millions of acts of personal citizenship," said Booker, and then offered up the story of his beginnings in politics.

But instead of starting with his move to Newark after college, he told of his African-American grandmother's arrival in the integrated coal-mining town of Buxton, Iowa, to live among Slovaks and Swedes, and closed with his parents successful fight to gain access to the mostly white town of Harrington Park in Bergen County.

"We are all descendants of Buxton," said Booker, to raucous cheers.

His point, he said, was that some of the worst periods in American history were responsible for inspiring some of its best moments. Booker related how watching the brutal attack by Alabama state troopers on a Martin Luther King-led march on national television inspired a lawyer volunteer to as a fair housing activist and help integrate Booker's own family into Harrington Park.

"He could not believe that this was his country," he said.

The inability of Democrats to prevent Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court should not pigeonhole the party into only playing defense, Booker urged.

Iowa is fielding numerous women candidates for statewide office, including Deidre DeJear, the first African-American woman to be on the ballot for secretary of state, and Abbie Finkenauer, who at 28 would be the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

"We're not defined by a President who does not believe women," said Booker, "We're gonna be defined when this state not only says that we believe women, but that we elect women!"

The crowd was on its feet again, and not for the last time.

By the night's end, many Democrats who said they entered the gala skeptical said they emerged convinced about Booker's potential.

Jeff Link, who managed Sen. Tom Harkin's 1996 reelection campaign and was his chief of staff from 1997 to 1999, called the speech "historic" for the Iowa gala.

Scott Thompson, a 56 year old volunteer with the Iowa Democratic Party who works as an economist for the state of Iowa, agreed Booker had emerged a serious 2020 presidential contender.

"He got my attention tonight. I wanted to see the personal side to Booker and I got it," said Thomspon, "I've already decided I can't support any white guy older than me."

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.