"Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America's Vision." Hartmann hosts his own nationally broadcast show out of Portland on the progressive radio network Air America. He replaced Al Franken, who is now running for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.
Hartmann said the goal of his new book is to help readers understand how people communicate.

"It's a communications tool kit," Hartmann said.

"It's for a wide variety of people, from politicians to folks standing around the water cooler."

In the book Hartmann examines how the brain processes information and how that influences the way people perceive messages and make decisions.
"There is a fundamental difference in worldview between conservatives and liberal progressives and how this worldview is communicated," Hartmann said. "Political persuasion is as much about biology as ideology."

Hartmann contends that political conservatives have become masters of largely subconscious aspects of political persuasion.

Hartmann filled the Alumni Lounge at Willamette University despite the fact that his presentation and book signing was scheduled for the middle of the afternoon. Willamette Store manager Tim King said the event was a huge success.

"We rarely sponsor these kinds of events ourselves, but Thom Hartmann is a big name and he's more or less in our backyard. I've been trying to get him to come since April, but the timing was great with his new book coming out now. The stars were lining up for us," King said.

For Hartmann, besides the soaring costs of healthcare and our crumbling infrastructure, the most pressing issues this election season are economic.

"There is the $10 trillion national debt which is costing every person in America $30,000. We also have a $700-800 billion trade deficit, which costs us $3 or $4 trillion in assets. It's the selling off -- no, the ripping off of America."

While he will not endorse any candidate at this point, he is leaning toward Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards.

Thom Hartmann can be heard Monday through Friday on Portland's AM 620 KPOJ from 9 a.m. to noon. He also contributes to the local morning show that airs just before his own broadcast. "Cracking the Code" is available online and at bookstores everywhere. For more information visit thomhartmann.com or airamerica.com.