I grew up there. Very liberal urban area. Artists, educators, ghettos and powerful unions. Just as bad as Boston or San Fran.
The suburbs and rural areas are very conservative. Families, churches, sportsmen, farmers, engineers. When you can find a democrat in these conservative areas, he's usually a JFK type. Bachmann comes from a district just north of the metro area.
Having grown up there, I can say that Minnesotans want to be recognized nationaly. While most Minnesotans aren't this stupid, it only takes a small handful of them to have an effect in a purple state. In the case of Franken, it only took a couple more votes to win.
Kinda like NY state, liberal around cities and conservative in the rural areas.