Mark,
The whole reason I'm developing my own "frontend" for both "list management" and "archive" access is because Python isn't really the language I speak... I'm a PHP guy, and so I'm working to build with the language I know and love, while utilizing Mailman for what it does best... In addition to implementing the frontend the way I want it (expose/hide feature that are useful/unuseful to our users), I want to fully customize the visual appearance to represent the SaaS offering properly.
*** we're not try to hide that Mailman is in the equation, just how the overall interface is visually represented ***
That all being said, on a slight segway... Aside from using the REST API, is it practical or possible to manipulate the database directly? That is, in doing so would it just work or are there extra moving parts when an API request is issued?