So you kept me pretty busy over the past two weeks with your e-mails and calls in response to my invitation to shape our coverage. The response was overwhelming. Of course, I read all of your feedback, and I was impressed by the deluge of thoughtful comments; your affinity for the paper and for this section came through. And I thank you for that.

I appreciated that so many of you were passionate about your favorite picks — there's certainly no shortage of opinions out there. Your comments helped us chart some of the changes you'll be seeing in the weeks ahead.

Got your coffee? Here we go:

Without question, Ellen Goodman was the most popular columnist with our respondents. Reader Joanne Lundstrom spoke for many when she wrote: "Whatever you do, keep Ellen Goodman. She has such a great writing style, and offers a woman's perspective and a unique view on political issues." As did reader Pualani Good from Mililani: "Please, please, please keep Ellen Goodman's column. Straight from the hip journalism combined with compassion, humor and enlightenment." So while the Saturday editorial page was eliminated, we'll keep Goodman's column — she'll run on Fridays. Her column will continue to appear online through Saturday as well.

Under threat that the world might come to an end if we dared to move him, local columnist David Shapiro will stay put in his Wednesday slot. As one reader put it: "... he cuts through the political garbage and helps keep our government officials accountable."

Balancing out the week, ideologically speaking, conservative Victor Davis Hanson will keep his Thursday spot. Hanson fan B.J. Dyhr from Waikiki gets right to the point: "Don't you DARE take him away from us! He is so calm and sensible." Even the more liberal among us seem to agree: "While I turn red every time I see Victor Davis Hanson's sneering face looking up from the page, I'm sure there are counterparts who feel the same way about Jules Witcover or someone over on my edge of the spectrum," reader Howard Wade wrote, in his pitch for greater variety.

On that score, you can expect to see more from Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts and his conservative counterpart Charles Krauthammer. While both will occasionally appear in the paper, they'll have permanent homes in our online columnist lineup: Pitts will be posted online Mondays; Krauthammer on Fridays. Look for more from Trudy Rubin, as well (reader Dave Monk from Hawai'i Kai should be happy about that one).

We're also updating our cartoon package to feature four fabulous cartoonists of varied political persuasions — three of whom are Pulitzer winners — including Lisa Benson, who will provide some gender diversity as well as her unique point of view.

On to the Focus section.