The Baltimore Sun has a piece covering how Kerry is fighting off the "dark horses" (read the web-enabled Dean). A snippet:

The latest obstacle in Kerry's path was a flood of online donations to former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, which suddenly made Dean look less like a long shot and more like a serious threat. Last spring, it was another dark-horse rival, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who popped a surprise and beat Kerry in the initial fund-raising competition.

Kerry's public response to Dean's surge has been to shrug it off and soldier on. Privately, his campaign advisers acknowledge that they cannot predict how big a wave Dean might end up riding into New Hampshire, which is regarded as a must-win primary for Kerry.

AP:

AMHERST, N.H. - While people across the country celebrated Fourth of July with barbecues, baseball games and parades, residents of the first-in-the-nation primary state sized up possible presidents.

Four presidential hopefuls made their pitch to voters while marching with kids on bikes, Revolutionary War re-enactors, scouts, unicyclists and bands. New Hampshire's primary is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2004.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean had the most supporters — and noisemakers — while marching in Amherst and then Merrimack, both within 15 miles of the Massachusetts state line. Kerry has ranked first in New Hampshire's latest polls and Dean has come in second.

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and Florida Sen. Bob Graham had fewer supporters present, but both shook as many hands and kissed as many babies as the regional candidates.

From the Hampton Union (NH):

The John Kerry campaign returned to Hampton this week, three months and a week after last visiting town, on its hopeful road to the White House.

This time around the candidate spoke at Fisher Scientific on Liberty Lane, addressing jobs, health care, and the economy.

PBS has posted the transcript of Wednesday's interview with Kerry about healthcare.

My plan is the first plan ever offered that actually reduces health-care costs for all Americans. You have 163 million Americans who get their health care today through the workplace. And their premiums are going up, they're skyrocketing, double digits every year for both the business and the employee. So what I do is, I create this relief of the burden where the federal government will pay 75 percent of the cost of the most expensive cases. That automatically reduces premiums for every American. I think, Margaret, if the choice to Americans is we can make sense out of our health-care system, we can bring all of the uninsured in over time, and we can lower the cost for every American, or have a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. That's the choice. I think Americans will choose the health care.

From Slate:

When I came back from Vietnam
Example: "I have been a leader in the environment since I first came back from Vietnam and became a part of Earth Day 1970" (EMILY's List forum, May 20, 2003).
What it means: On the environment, I'm a war hero. On campaign reform, I'm a war hero. On affirmative action, I'm a war hero.
What it hides: What does Vietnam have to do with any of these issues?
Subtext: Did I mention I'm a war hero?