i think that "should have at least a mentor guiding you" sounds a lot more better than 

a core developer needs to sign on to be a sponsor 

that sounds a lot more that without backing, you can't submit a pep, i guess the core devs wanted to make things easier but the sponsor thing etc put me off.

for someone using py, ideas sometimes come but since i've not yet submitted a pep, when i see a change in the flow, i ask: will it be easier or more difficult to submit peps now? i really got the impression that now chances are slimmer. 

great idea that core mentors now volunteer to guide peps,

sorry for trouble.

yours,

Abdur-Rahmaan Janhangeer
http://www.pythonmembers.club | https://github.com/Abdur-rahmaanJ
Mauritius