Haven't been there for quite some time, but have been in contact indirectly.
You're right that it is run by white liberals, simply because the U of M is by far the largest employer and some of the students vote there as well.
But "all the bad aspects of the East Coast transplanted to the Midwest"? Not exactly. Crime rate isn't high and there are relatively few foreigners compared to the big East Coast metro areas. Also, relatively little poverty. And, maybe like the East Coast, it has a lot of cultural events for a city its size, which isn't necessarily bad.
Believe it or not, there are people still very much alive today who can recall when Ann Arbor had a Republican mayor and a Republican congressman representing the area, and that was not considered particularly strange.
I call Ann Arbor, Berkley east.