In the Python world I drink the words of Armin Ronacher, Ian Bicking and George Brandl. They created some of the biggest slices in the ecosystem pie, and I raise my hat before their productivity and quality of their work.
As to what sites to follow, planet.python.org may be your best bet. Depends on what you want to achieve (I enjoy general software engineering blogs a lot more.)
The greatest python projects IMO come from Pocoo. Study their stuff and you'll be a guru in no time.