DENVER - If ever there was a moment for Cory Booker to look like Captain Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise, it was now, but even as he tried to shoulder the strangely consistent Star Trek backdrop of the stage here in the Mission Ballroom, Booker had to bear the offstage presence of Pete Buttigieg, who's not content to play Spock in his own quest for the presidency.

Sandwiched between Buttigieg and an especially righteous U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), the inspirational Booker would not be satisfied with anything less than an upper deck Ohtani-sized shot tonight.

"We don't want a blue wave we want a sea change for Americans," said New Jersey's senior senator. "Minimum wage hasn't kept pace with the cost of living. This is a moral moment in America. This is not right or left, it is right and wrong. The voters told us so.

"Let's redeem the dream," he added.

In between, Booker peppered his speech with some greatest hits, references to Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, and the constitutional promise of America.

People liked it.

Some loved it.

It wasn't overly long.

And it worked.

Whatever 2028 campaign trail rivalry awaited Booker and Buttigieg, at the moment, the presidency of Donald Trump felt like a Klingon crash landing with no political survivors, and Gen X still hanging around, bucking for relevancy, and scoring, at least when compared with Trump.

Buttigieg appeared later.

"Let me say how welcome it is to be at a gathering of Democrats to talk about what comes next instead of what went wrong," said the former Transportation Secretary. "We just had not a win but a wipeout."

Articulate, "There is no such thing as a permanently red district, state or town," he added.

"God does not belong to a political party."

Polite handclaps ensued.

It was celebratory - but rational. Joyful but surgical.

We are not here to restore the previous status quo either," Buttigieg added. "We are not here to restore or rewind."

People liked it.

If the speech lacked Booker's passion it perhaps had more precision.