What's the official way of storing settings for Python programs?
It depends largely on how complicated your configuration is. If you're doing a simple key-value mapping and you want the capability to edit the settings with a text editor, I think ConfigParser is the way to go. 
If your settings are complicated and include lists and nested data structures, I'd use XML or JSON and create a configuration editor. 
For really complicated  things where the end user isn't expected to change the settings much, or is more trusted, just create a set of Python classes and evaluate a Python script to get the configuration.
Django uses real Python files for settings, Trac uses a .ini file, and some other pieces of software uses XML files to hold this information.
Are one of these approaches blessed by Guido and/or the Python community more than another?