recommendations for python web programming tools

[Matthew Wilson]

I am about to start designing a web application for my office intranet.
It is pretty simple: we need a way to track conversations with contacts
and a way to update contact information.

I could do it all in PHP or perl-mason, but I really like python's
syntax and I have the time to learn something new.  I've never used any
of the web stuff for python.  I need something that is easy and quick to
learn.  I need support for connection to MySQL, simple user
authentication based on passwords, and either a templating system, or
the ability to embed python code in html, like PHP. I already have
Apache installed and running on a Red Hat linux box.

I don't need the most high-performance system.  We have 8 users at the
most that will be logging in simultaneously.

All recommendations are welcome.