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SIOUX CITY, Iowa 鈥� For the longest time, Kathy Winter never put up听campaign yard signs on her front lawn. She just didn鈥檛 want to hurt her husband鈥檚 business.

She firmly believes a lot of people would have stopped coming into the family鈥檚 liquor store in Sibley, 10 miles south of the Minnesota border and far up in Iowa鈥檚 rock-solid conservative northwest, if they had known the hands that fed them their booze belonged to a liberal.

For every one Democrat,听. But when her son Jason, himself a Democratic activist with a political science degree from the University of South Dakota, had dragged her to a John Kerry campaign event in neighboring Sheldon in 2004, Kathy caught the bug to go on, Quixote-like, and fight the odds.

Ever since, progress has been slow 鈥� painfully slow. 鈥淣ot a snowball鈥檚 chance in hell that a Democratic candidate is going to win this county,鈥� she still readily admits, more than a decade later, by now filling the shoes of the Osceola County Democrats chairwoman.

Earlier this month, when progressive presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders visited Sibley 鈥� a town of 2,800 鈥� about 200 people showed up to the event. Winter and the Osceola Democrats had planned for听half of that.

Sanders鈥� visit was a good day for Kathy. But she says there are many more 鈥渨hen you are just frustrated a lot.鈥�

Like when Jason, then an intern on the Hillary Clinton Iowa campaign, had written a letter to the editor of the local newspaper during the 2008 cycle touting his boss鈥檚 achievements on education, and the Winters鈥� then found an anonymous note in their mailbox that called them baby-killer supporters.

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Or when Kathy 鈥� a medical technologist with a now-retired husband at home 鈥� finally did put up a yard sign in 2012 to support Christie Vilsack鈥檚 run against staunchly conservative U.S. Rep. Steve King. The I-can鈥檛-believe-you-would-do-this looks followed the family around town.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a rough road up there,鈥� Kathy says and doesn鈥檛 hold back on why she thinks that is. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that our neighbors and co-workers are bad people. They just have a total disconnect between the very Christian way they are supposed to live their life and what that translates to when they vote.鈥�

To help turn the tide, Kathy found an ally in Kim Weaver, another frontline northwest Iowa progressive activist who then spearheaded the next-door O鈥橞rien County Democrats and听. When every county chair received an email touting a grant program put together by the office of now-retired Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin in 2013, Weaver called her friend in Osceola.

鈥淪he said: 鈥楬ow about if we both apply?鈥� Kathy remembers. 鈥溾�橶e write our grant individually, but we both have the same goal which is to form a loose collaboration to work together in this very red area.鈥欌��

Both chairs got funding. They invited two other neighboring counties, Sioux and Lyon, to join their ranks 鈥� the SOLO Democrats were born, named after the initials of their four members.

But even with quadrupled forces, getting people to attend the Democratic caucuses in the four-corner coalition is an uphill battle.

鈥淭he caucus is different than any other process,鈥� Jason says. 鈥漎ou have to get up in front of everyone and say, 鈥業 am a Democrat and this is the candidate I am supporting.鈥� In northwest Iowa, that is something that can be very intimidating.鈥�

The two still chuckle when they remember Hillary Clinton鈥檚 鈥�08 mantra, 鈥溾��

鈥淣o, no,鈥� Kathy stews. 鈥淎 primary is easy. You have a polling place open for eight to 10 hours, maybe even 12. You don鈥檛 come home from work on a cold January or February night in northwest Iowa. And then you have to think about getting your coat and boots back on to go out and stand up in front of your neighbors to say who you are for. There is nothing about that that鈥檚 easy.鈥�

But then again, nothing in the Winters鈥� political life has ever exactly been easy anyway.