Cory Booker sounded more like a preacher than a presidential candidate as he urged Democrats to vote for someone who could unite America, not just chase Donald Trump from the White House.

“Beating Donald Trump is the floor; it is not the ceiling,” Booker said, his voice soaring. “It gets us out of the valley; it doesn’t get us to the mountaintop. I am running for president because I want to get to the mountaintop!”

Murmurs of “yes!” and “mmm-hmm” rose from the audience of 80 or so, as if they were seated at a Sunday service and not a bowling alley in this speck of a town on Iowa’s Raccoon River. Several pledged to support Booker in the Feb. 3 caucuses that start the 2020 presidential balloting.