Sockets Programming,IPC,New to Python

[rezidew at rezidew.net]

I'm really new to python, but from what I've seen it would fit
nicely an application that I have. I'm trying to rewrite a 
a (chat/bbs) server that allows people to telnet to it, create
an account, login to said account and interact with other users.

The original was done in C, not by myself but I've hacked it up
pretty well.

The questions I have are:

#1) Is there any reason that Python would not be a good choice
    for such an application?

#2) Are there any good resources for bring a 'procedure based'
    guy upto speed on OOP? (with regard to sockets and threads)

#3) Is there a good resource for sockets and IPC in Python?
    I have 'Python essential refference', 'Learning Python' and
    'Programming Python'. There's a brief mention of them in the
    Last one but non anywhere else.

My current server is running at kemicol.rezidew.net 7283


Thanks in advance...