I was born in Evanston, Illinois. I spent my elementary and part of my junior high school years in a D.C. suburb. And then I spent my high school years in Minnesota. And then I spent my college years in Colorado. And then I spent some time living in China. And then I spent three years in Vermont before moving down to Nashville.
Abigail Washburn
When we go out, we have our favorite places, and the great thing about Minnesota is that most Minnesotans are pretty respectful of your time when you're with your family.
Adam Thielen
I hadn't gone to high school. I left Minnesota, I left home, I was on my own. I was seventeen.
Adrianne Lenker
I don't really think of Minnesota when I think of home.
Well, whenever I visit New York it feels pretty romantic, so I sometimes think about coming back here. But then I wonder if it's just 'cause I'm visiting that it feels so good. But also, Minnesota. I could imagine myself finding a place in Minneapolis.
I am a Minnesotan, and not just because I root for the Vikings and the Twins. I like the Minnesota-nice sensibility. I like the liberal tradition; I like the Hubert Humphrey tradition fighting for civil rights.
Al Franken
Minnesotans lost their jobs because the credit rating agencies didn't do the only job they're supposed to have, the only job they had, which is to give accurate, objective ratings to financial products.
I'm the New York Jew who actually grew up in Minnesota.
When you win an election, what you really win is a chance to go to work for working families who need a voice in Minnesota.
The next thing I am doing is moving back home to Minnesota and getting involved in politics. I'm looking at a run for Senate in 2008, but in the meantime I am focused on knitting together the progressive network in the upper Midwest.
I grew up in Minnesota, where we treasure our tradition of civic engagement - and our record of having the nation's highest voter participation.
My dad never graduated high school. He was a printing salesman. We lived in a two-bedroom, one-bath house in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. We weren't rich - but we felt secure.
Minnesota has a proud tradition of having two Senators on the Ag committee - a tradition I'd like very much to continue.
Minnesotans know the difference between the job of satirist and the job of senator. And so do I.
I know I have an awful lot to learn from the people of Minnesota.
The way I see it, I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator. I'm going to Washington to be the second senator from the state of Minnesota.
The Minnesotans I talk to are really concerned about what the future holds for their families. They're trying to pay for health care and send their kids to college, they're worried about declining home values, they're scared for a loved one they have serving in Iraq.
I grew up in a politically aware household: very civically-minded, good Minnesota liberals.
Alex Pareene
Whenever I've done a sketch in which I'm asked to play a mom, my brain goes to Minnesota. It makes the character seem matronly, warm, the kind of person that takes care of you and brings you Campbell's soup when you're sick. It's a great shortcut.
Allison Tolman
I've done some version of that Minnesota accent - that Midwestern accent - in sketch comedy for years. It's the quickest way to symbolize you're a mom.
A bridge shouldn't just fall down in the middle of America. Not a bridge that's a few blocks from my house. Not an eight-lane highway. Not a bridge that I drive over with my family every day, along with tens of thousands of Minnesotans. But that's what happened.
In Minnesota, we tend to be a little more open to immigration.
As a prosecutor and a senator, one of my main criminal justice priorities has been enforcing and reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, a bill with deep roots in Minnesota, seeds planted by former Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila.
For me, one of my earliest memories of politics where I thought that I could do anything was when Walter Mondale of Minnesota picked Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. I literally remember what she wore - the red dress, the white pearls. And I saw that, and I thought, 'Anything is possible.'
Before we even consider expanding Medicare, or another program based on its rates, we must reform our Medicare payment system so that it rewards value, not volume, and doesn't disadvantage states like Minnesota that provide high-quality care in an efficient way.
Canada has the world's largest Ukrainian population outside of Ukraine and Russia. As a senator from Minnesota, a state with a large Ukrainian-American community, I understand how important it is that Canada works with us to stand up to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
I was one of the first women partners at my law firm, the first woman in my Minnesota prosecutor job, and the first woman elected from my state to the Senate. So advice from women who had done similar things was important for me.
I love representing Minnesota in the Senate.
I love the State Fair. It's an event that really brings the urban and the rural Minnesotans together. Rural people get a chance to mix with the urban folk and see what the cities have to offer, and urban people get to remember where their food comes from and who produces it for them.
I know we can find a bipartisan response to pressing challenges - like repairing, modernizing and adding to the infrastructure on which we all rely. I know it because I've seen it happen in my own state of Minnesota.
I actually spoke at the christening of the USS Minnesota - it was a really, very cool submarine in Norfolk.
It's understood in Minnesota that we're going to start losing businesses if we can't find more workers.
Minnesota's been good to me.
As soon as I stepped foot in Minnesota, I've been shown nothing except love.
KG is Minnesota basketball, he is the Timberwolves - what he did, just the intensity he brought to the game.
It would have been harder for me to get rookie of the year in Cleveland than it would've been in Minnesota.
I love Minnesota.
I love the Minnesota State Fair, and I go with my family every August for nearly all 12 days.
Growing up in a rural setting in Minnesota, I was raised with the outdoors and a sense of adventure.
Back in 1983, quarterback Tommy Kramer got hurt and the Minnesota Vikings traded for me. The plan was for me to play, but I got something called Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder, and wound up on injured reserve.
The U.S. fiscal union has worked, in no small part, by enabling subsidies to the Mississippis without requiring the approval of the Minnesotas. It creates an important form of insurance.
Growing up in Minnesota, I had a lot of freedom to run around, and we had go-carts and four-wheelers and all that stuff. I like that adrenalin-rush stuff. I did a little bit of dance, but mostly sports.
I moved from Minnesota to Las Vegas when I was 13, so I spent my high school years there and did some things I'm not proud of.
Since I'm a Minnesotan, that bragging thing is a little hard.
I'm from Minnesota! I used to work Knuckleheads at the Mall of America as a stand-up. I spent New Year's there once. I'm not trying to namedrop.
As a former resident with strong personal and ministry ties to the North Star State, I pray that the good people of Minnesota will show their support for God's definition of marriage, between a man and a woman.
I did a little modeling in Minnesota, but because I was a heavier 'model,' I didn't pursue it much when I lived there.
I happened to be in a position in Superior where I could play three sports, and when I came to Minnesota, I had the understanding they would allow me to play three sports. Kids now don't have the same amount of time. You have coaches that think baseball is 10 months a year. Hockey is 11 or 12 months a year.
Quite frankly, Minnesota was where my career kind of turned around, and it all had to do with Flip Saunders and his coaching prowess and his system.
When I testified before Congress after the Hudson River landing, Congressman James Oberstar of Minnesota said, 'Safety begins in the boardroom.' That's as true in medicine as it is in aviation. It always boils down to leadership.
