Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar traveled through Washington County Friday, her bright green “Amy For America” bus passing giant combines harvesting crops along Highway 92 on a sunny autumn day accentuated by the changing colors of the fall foliage.

Like those farmers, Klobuchar appears to be harvesting the fruits of a campaign that began earlier this year on a snowy, cold and blustery day on the banks of the Mississippi River in her native Minnesota.

In the three days following the Oct. 15 Democratic presidential debate, the Klobuchar campaign said it raised $1.5 million from mostly small donors, a giant boost for the candidate who has been stuck in the second tier of the crowded field of presidential hopefuls.

“We greatly improved our situation,” Klobuchar said in Sigourney on Friday. 

The money raised since the debate will come in handy as Klobuchar tries to qualify for the fifth debate scheduled for November. She has met the fundraising threshold set by the Democratic Party but needs to improve her standing in political polls to land a spot on the stage.

“I know I am a bit of an underdog,” Klobuchar said. “No one thought Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton or even Barack Obama was going to be the president at this point in time.”

She plans on running more ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, citing opponents who have won places on the debate stage due to increased name recognition that comes from running ads.

“I still have that issue where I am not as well-known as some of the other candidates,” Klobuchar said.

She is working to change that.

The day after the debate, Klobuchar toured New Hampshire’s 10 counties and then headed to Iowa where she picked up her brilliant green bus emblazoned with Amy For America on its sides.

That bus rolled into the heart of Trump Country Friday. She visited Sigourney (Keokuk County 68.0% for Trump in 2016), Crawfordsville (Washington County 56.5% for Trump), and Wapello (Louisa County 61.3% Trump support).

“I’m a strong believer in going not just where it is comfortable but where it is uncomfortable, going not just to the bluest of blue counties and blue states but actually going to those places and counties where Donald Trump won, like this one,” she said. “He made all kinds of promises to farmers in rural areas, and he hasn’t had your back.”

She talked about winning congressional districts in Minnesota that Trump won by double digits.

Klobuchar touted the endorsement earlier in the day of state Rep. Andy McKean, a former Republican who changed his party affiliation in opposition to what the party has become under Donald Trump.

“It’s part of my argument that we’ve got to bring people with us,” Klobuchar said.

She told stories about people who approach her at campaign events and whispered that they voted for Trump in 2016, later realizing their vote was a mistake.

“It’s reaching out to people by saying, ‘Look, sure some people voted for him and now they regret it, and you are not alone,’” she said. “If you want to see a new world where you agree with us, please join us.”

In Crawfordsville, she stopped at the W2 Fuel biodiesel plant that shut down in August due to a drop in demand caused with changes in renewable fuels policies implemented by the Trump administration. 

W2 Fuel CEO Roy Strom said the plant produced clean burning fuel that reduced greenhouse gases.

“Over the last 10 years, we’ve saved an average of about 70 cents per gallon of the cost of diesel fuel,” he said. “We do wind up selling it at a discount, but we do require some government assistance on that.”

Klobuchar’s voice grew wistful as she examined the work shirts of 17 workers who were laid off from the plant.

The shirts hang with the hope that a new president may once again support the policies – and the subsidies – that fueled the biodiesel plant.

Klobuchar read the name patches on each shirt.

“Salvador, Matt … these are people that aren’t working,” she said. 

Talking later with reporters, she recalled those shirts.

“I am forever going to remember those coats of the workers with the names Matt, Derek and Salvador, people that are waiting to come back,” she said. “The hope is we are going to see a better day with smarter policies.”