16 people are reported dead in the storm system that spawned those twisters is not over yet. more clues in the case of a missing tennessee woman. another round in the budget battle. did the republicans just make a risky move? whatnot to buy. the stuff you want to avoid the next time you walk into a dollar store. good morning everyone. i'm alex witt. welcome to msnbc saturday. it's 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. out west. this morning the death toll is rising in several midwestern and southern states, it now has its aim on the east coast. at least 16 people have been killed since thursday, alabama, oklahoma and arkansas. more than 75 twisters were reported yesterday. officials are still assessing all the damage. all counties in alabama have declared states of emergency. nbc's kurt gregory has the latest. >> reporter: the deadly storm system spawned tornadoes across parts of the midwest and south. no tornadoes reported in western arkansas, but that state was hit the hardest. seven people were killed in arkansas including a mother and her young son who died when a tree fell on their house. >> just a tragedy. i feel for the family with all my heart. >> oh, my god. this is not good. >> reporter: in mississippi, a tornado caught on tape in jackson. cars flipped on the interstate. a roof ripped off a bank. >> wild tornado. >> reporter: even rather video of a water spout. in oklahoma this twister barreled through tushka killing two elderly sisters. high school students huddled in a storm shelter as devastating winds tore through the building overhead. >> it looks like somebody came by and stepped on it and like somebody just grabbed it. >> reporter: the massive storm system stretched far enough north to bring blizzard conditions to the dakotas and nebraska. the line of storms is pressing east. >> nbc's kurt gregory we porting there. for a look at who will feel the brunt of the storms today, i'm joined by msnbc meteorologist bill karins. >> an amazing scene yesterday. we have more severe wealth tore go this morning into this afternoon. i highlighted the area yesterday where the tornado outbreak occurred, started in louisiana, pushed through mississippi and alabama and even georgia overnight. incredible amount of strong storms with rotation that produced tornadoes. all the red triangles on there are reports of tornadoes that peppered central and southern portions of mississippi and alabama. by far, the worst hit areas. not many community that is didn't have a story to tell from the severe weather that rolled through yesterday. we still have tornado watch this is morning. the area from charlotte through columbia, down through areas of georgia, until 1:00 this afternoon, conditions are possible for isolated tornadoes. now, as we go through the afternoon hours, that's the area of concern pushing into the carolinas. i think as we get the heating of the day and a little more moisture available, the strong storms will be likely in areas from raleigh south wards, the wilmington area, towards the outer banks. that's where more tornadoes are likely. also a chance for isolated strong storms from washington, d.c. to richmond and from charleston to savannah. hopefully, alex, this will go down as one of our worst outbreaks of this season, we don't want to do it again. it's a miserable scene of devastation and a lot of people have a lot of picking up to do during the day today. >> thanks so much, bill. coming up, we'll go live to alabama where now at least seven people have been confirmed dead from these vicious storms. president obama will be hitting the road this week to try to sell his plan on tackling this nation's deficit. with his re-election campaign up an running, he's heading to key political territory. the three-state swing kicks off in virginia before the president heads to nevada's battleground. he'll wrap up his trip in california, a hod bed for democratic fundraisers. but back to the budget battle where the president used his weekly address today to criticize the gop's proposal. >> while i think their goal is worthy, i believe their vision is wrong for america. i don't think it's right to ask seniors to pay thousands more for health care or ask students to postpone college just so we don't have to ask those who have prospered so much in this land of opportunity to give back a little more. >> mike viqueira, good saturday morning to you. you heard the president calling on the nation's wealthy and saying they could, quote, give back a little more. taxes, is that what that means? >> reporter: that's what it means. we had this fight back in september when the president came together to extend the bush era tax cuts. he said the only way he could get the deal was to allow tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 to be extended for another two years. obviously the president is trying to revisit that issue. republicans for their part say the president is playing politics with a very dangerous issue of the debt in this country. this country's full faith and credit he risks wreaking havoc with the economy if he doesn't come to the table with a serious proposal. they say his proposal is purely politics and lacking details. tom coburn, a republican of oklahoma from the united states senate, he gave the response to president obama today in a weekly address. >> unfortunately the president failed to put a serious proposal on the table. by pretending that medicare and medicaid and social security are sound financially when they're not, the president is jeopardizing the benefits for the very americans he says he wants to protect. >> reporter: and the good news is that both sides agree that medicare and taxes have to be reformed. they're dramatically different in their approaches. you know the president has instructed a group of members of congress, house and nat, republican and democrat, to come up with a plan, something to vote on by the end of june. but that is not something the white house thinks will be the be-all and end-all of deficit reduction. they expect it to go into next year which incidentally with a campaign year. >> really? thank you very much, mike viqueira at the white house. we invite you to watch "meet the press." tim geithner will be david gregory's guest. check your local listings for the time. new developments in the case of holly bobo, last seen led away from her home by an unknown man wearing camouflage from her home. tom, what are we learning about this horrible incident? >> reporter: alex, investigators say they recovered several items belonging to holly bobo. they're also telling the associated press that her brother found blood near the scene of the kidnapping. also this morning they're correcting some of their original statements about her abduction. in a major change from what was first reported, the tennessee bureau of investigation says a man wearing camouflage didn't drag hole by bobo from her driveway and into the woods. >> i want to clear up issues because lots of things have been reported that are not correct. >> reporter: holly's brother called 911 after witnessing part of the abduction. >> she walked into the woods. her brother did what he thought was right and had reasons to do what he did. what he did and he immediately contacted 911. >> reporter: this is now day four of the massive search. by the truck load, teams headed to rough terrain. >> the woods are so thick, you can't hardly walk through them. you're getting scratched up with thorns and brirs every time you turn around. >> reporter: investigators are coming an area two counties wide hoping to find more traces of holly. one item found so far is described as a lunch purse. >> the property onner of this area found the lunch pale that contained her water bottle and things that she was taking for lunch for that day. i have a feeling she's still alive and okay. the fact we haven't found anything here local is a good sign. >> reporter: in this small rural community the search for holly is personal. >> if we can hit henderson county, mabel benton county, that would be greatly appreciated. pass out as many as you can. >> reporter: many know her as a friend, classmate, neighbor. pink ribbons and prepare years are offered to holly's family, still hoping for her safe return. >> if we can help find holly, it's worth it. we'll do anything. >> reporter: as for a person of interest, investigators say they don't have one at this point. they have ruled out her brother and her boyfriend as suspects. and the search is going to restum here as you can see behind me. the buses are ready to go. >> you know, you were standing right there on the edge of that brush. how thick is it? what kind of challenge does that pose for people combing for clues? >> reporter: it's a very, very rough terrain out there. if you stand on the access road you can look back and there are miles and miles of woods in this west tennessee area. so if you don't know these woods, you can very easily get lost. >> all right, thank you so much from parsons. it is the deadliest storm system of the season. at least 16 people have died from the rash of severe weather since thursday. you're looking at new video this morning of a destructive tornado that touched down in alabama. that state has reported seven deaths. the weather channel's jim cantore is in tuscaloosa and has the very latest for us. we can barely even see you amidst that mess there, jim. good morning. >> reporter: this is the way it looks, unfortunately, alex, all the way across so much of mississippi and alabama, even georgia. the atlanta metro area dealing with storms last night with a possible tornado. huge trees. this is an oak here, a pine you see in front of me. power pole, the weight of the pole and the trees taking down lines as well. it will be a while before some of these homes get power. we saw a gentleman come out on his porch. he's assessing the damage and says he has damage to the back of his home at the present time. it has been a while couple of days, 120 tornadoes which is way above average certainly for what you'd see this time of the year. let me show you some of these. i want to take you near prattville, alabama, across south central alabama. you can see the huge tornado which came across. this was responsible for three of the seven deaths in the state of alabama here alone. mur rang go county is that storm. this is clinton, mississippi, right near the jackson area. huge tornado here. what's amazing about this storm is the same parent supercell, the mother ship of the storm that produced that tornado, moved all the way across mississippi and up here to tuscaloosa and produced this damage that you see right in through here. perhaps the most impressive storm of all, a multi-vortex tornado where, yes, not one, not two, but even three to four tornadoes at times can rotate around the base of the main tornado and cause all sorts of damage. and perhaps they're thinking is when you see a house damage tds here and you look across the street and the other isn't damaged, the reason for that, alex, is because of these mull ti vortex tornadoes. unfortunately the threat isn't over. we already have tornado watches out this morning. thunderstorms are expected through the carolinas, through virginia, perhaps as far north adds philadelphia today. we still have that severe weather threat. day three of our three-day outbreak. >> we're very glad for the heads-up from you, jichl cantore, thank you. donald trump's political aspirations. support for him has doubled. will he really run? what is his appeal? practice makes perfect. the royal rehearsal for kate middleton at westminster abbey. we'll show it to you on msnbc saturday. 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>> i think it is. this is a radical budget. there's really no other word to use than that. it essentially changes the american social contract that we've had going back to franklin roosevelt. >> for people under 55 we should say. >> for people under 55. >> regarding medicare. >> yeah. but it will be 65 pretty soon. it ends medicare. if people like medicare -- and that's not a matter of my opinion. that's the actual facts of this. the "wall street journal" said this ends medicare. it turns it into a voucher program where seniors in just a few years will need to go out and shop in the private market the way non-seniors do today. >> subsidized by federal government. >> subsidized by the federal government, but not anywhere close to what it would actually cost. it would cost seniors about $7,000 to make up and get to where they are today in terms of their coverage. so what everyone thinks of it, it is radically different than the system we have right now in this country. i think what happened is, because everybody knows this is not going to become law, the senate will reject this. it hasn't gotten a huge amount of attention. what it does is it draws a very clear line, because there were no democratic votes. the republicans right now are on record. they want to end medicare. the democrats don't. now, the republicans can say, well, we're more serious about cutting the deficit. president obama hasn't been as specific as we have been. that's true. but on the medicare question, very sharp difference. >> okay. looking at the austerity -- this deep divide, not one democrat votes for this. four republicans crossed the aisle and went with the democrats against this. what kind of tenor does this set for the budget negotiations not only for 2012, but the ones we'll have to look out for raising the debt ceiling pretty darn soon? >> great question. if they don't laraise the debt ceiling, the united states face it is possibility of default which the chairman of the fed and every secretary of the treasury will tell you is a complete disaster for the american economy. >> domino effect for the world in fact. >> they'll play a game of chicken going right up to that. i think they'll come up with some fig leaf because both parties want to cut more than $4 trillion from the budget over the next decade or so. they will use that "t" word, trillion, to come up with some sort of compromise. it doesn't have many specifics in it, but commits both sides to getting into trillion land. and that will get them through the debt ceiling debate. then i think they'll kick the can down the road to the 2012 election which will be a referendum on which vision of america do you believe? it's an extraordinary sharp difference. people say what's the difference between democrats and republicans? not next time. in the next election there will be the clearest choice in terms of visions of this country that we have seen in a generation because one party, the republicans want to -- they want to turn back the clock. they can say it's in the interest of fiscal discipline, whatever their motives are. they want to turn back the clock, 135 of them yesterday voted to privatize social security which, if they win the presidential election and get control of the senate which is quite possible, they will do. so americans are going to have to choose, do they want a privatized social security, a privatized medicare system, or do they want to make other kinds of adjustments which involve making the wealthy pay clinton-era-level taxation. that's all the democrats are talking about, just turning the tax structure back to where it was in the very prosperous 1990s. whereas the republicans want to actually cut taxes for the wealthy even further down to a 25% top rate. >> i'm going to ask really quickly, with regard to people being theoretically behind cutting a budget and yet when it hits close to home, how much of a struggle do you think it is for people who then say, yes, we've got to cut the budget, but now i'm going to have to pay so much more, it's going to hurt me personally. where's that line? >> that's what we'll find out over the next year and a half as word of this filters down. right now the president's speech this week was in the middle of the afternoon, not a lot of people saw it. i think when people start to realize, hey, when they totally restructure medicaid which is what the republican plan that passed the house does, that means instead of your parent or grand apparent being in the nursing home, they're going to be in your den because there's not going to be the money for them to be in the nursing home. these are things that really hit home and we'll see how they filter down. there's a challenge for the democrats to clarify this. because obviously the republicans don't want to talk too much about what the implications of all this would be for ordinary people. >> jonathan alter, never ordinary with us, thank you so much. >> thanks, alex. less than two weeks until the big day for william and kate. we have the latest gossip of where kate will spend her last night as a sij woman. at the dollar store there are great deals, but some duds you should watch out for, too. ♪ when it's planes in the sky ♪ ♪ for a chain of supply, that's logistics ♪ ♪ when the parts for the line ♪ ♪ come precisely on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪ [ ben harper's "amen omen" playing ] we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? 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[ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. i'm alex witt. as we approach the bottom of the hour, violent storms ripped a path of destruction across the south with six tornadoes in alabama alone. the system is moving into the east today. new clues in the desperate search for 20-year-old holly bobo. police say they have found her lunch bog. they say her brother saw blood outside of her house. investigators say they're not certain if that blood is holly's. the protests turned violent in syria today. a police officer died after reportedly being beaten during a demonstration following friday prayers. a deadly storm system is threatening more violent tornadoes today on the east coast. a massive system has already spawned more than 100 tornadoes including this terrifying one in mississippi. it started in oklahoma. it swept all the way into georgia just about, because there are tornado warnings for that state today. a father spoke amidst all the rubble at an oklahoma high school. >> looks like a war zone. that's what it looks to me like, a war zone. it's crazy. my kids went to school here and it breaks my heart to see it. >> two people were killed by the twisters in oklahoma, 14 more in arkansas and alabama. nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking the storm's path. good morning to you. >> reporter: good saturday morning, alex. tragic weather for the last two days. it will continue today. let me alert people to show you who is at risk during the day today. we started on thursday. this is the first day of our severe weather outbreak with tornadoes in oklahoma. some of those were deadly. then yesterday all the severe weather rolled through alabama, mich and into georgia, by far the worst hit areas with southern portions of alabama and mich. that's where we had just dozens of tornadoes reported. some of them were maybe seen twice by different people. incredible amount of severe weather and just a major tornado outbreak, one of the worst ones we've had in a long time. we'll be watching people trying to pick up for days and weeks to come. i'm sure the numbers of fatalities and injuries will continue to go up at daylight as we can see and get a survey of the devastation. we still have a threat of severe weather during the day today. now we're pushing into georgia, south carolina and north carolina. that's where the strong storms will be to the north of there, just heavy rain through the ohio valley and from d.c. to new york. a moderate risk of severe weather, this afternoon, especially early today as we go from raleigh to virginia beach, all the way to the wilmington area. that's where more tornadoes are likely during the day. that's what we'll be watching carefully as we go throughout this morning into this afternoon, alex. you've got to feel for all the people that have to deal with such tragedy yesterday. >> it's really awful. thanks so much, bill karins. for the latest updates and the forecast where you are, you can always head to weather.com. right now fbi officials and local police on long island are playing a game of hurry up and wait as the results of an exhaustive investigation are being processed. police searched 18 specific areas of interest but turned up nothing in the hunt for a serial killer. this week investigators ramped up the search for more potential bodies after several sets of remains were discovered in just the last four months. nbc's michelle franzen is joining me live from wanton, new york, with the latest on the investigation. michelle, with a good morning to you. what are investigators trying to do to turn up more clues. >> reporter: agencies from nassau and suffolk counties used all the tools at their disposal from high-tech fbi aerial photography equipment to good old-fashioned detective work on the ground, certainly looking for clues. 15 miles of rugged sandy and brush terrain that part of this investigation and also the place where a killer or killers are using as dumping ground. the search for more bodies and more clues expanded this week in the serial killer case on new york's long island. from the air, the fbi used high-tech imaging equipment to scan the stretch of heavy brush and sandy coastline. and divers in the water, friday, near oak beach discovered what they describe as a small bone. investigators have yet, though, to determine if it is human. so far ten sets of human remains have been uncovered in suffolk and nassau counties. >> we're looking for any and all evidence associated with the skeletal remains and, of course, we're still searching for shannon gilbert. >> reporter: shannon gilbert sparked the initial search late last year after family members reported her missing. in december police discovered four bodies on the barrier's southern shoreline. in march, another body, one mile away. in early april, three more sets of remains, and this past week two new sets of human remains including a skull were uncovered. it was revealed this week among the victims, a child lying next to a woman, likely not connected to the serial case. but investigators still don't know who has dumped the other bodies and if more than one person is involved. >> what we want to do is get all the evidence we possibly can to make a determination on who did this and bring them to justice. >> reporter: police have identified four bodies including melissa bar that many, missing since july 2009. melissa's mother lynn told police and nbc news she believed the killer used her daughter's cell phone in 2009 to call the family several times and telling mel liss is's sister he killed her. >> he's sick, he's sick and has to be caught oopsz. >> reporter: investigators believe the targeted victims worked as prostitutes in the area and used krags liss totd advertise. serial killer profiler pat brown says the gruesome trail is likely. >> the most important clues they have is the location of the bodies, the simple fact that somebody found a good dumping ground means to me he knows the area and lives in that area, probably to the east of where the bodies were dumped. >> reporter: investigators are not expected to be out searching the day. they could be out next week again in their search for more remains. >> michelle, i've got to ask, the people who live in that area must be creeped out by all of this. we're talking beach front pair yeah on long island. there are some nice homes. how difficult is it for these people on any number of levels to be dealing with this horrific story? >> reporter: throughout the weeks and the months we have heard from residents saying they are creeped out by this, but they're also not concerned. they're trusting the police are methodically going through their investigation and their search and knowing that what they've learned so far is that many of these women have been targeted because of their profession, what they do. and police have also been quick to say that they don't believe that there is some killer running around on the loose that he is definitely targeting his victims. >> michelle franzen, thank you very much. the reblsz in libya are showing new signs of strength thanks to the work of professional soldiers. secretary of state hillary clinton says the operation needs a lot of humanitarian and military assistance. >> there have been a number of discussions about how best to provide that assistance, who is willing to do what. we're also searching for ways to provide funding to the operation so that they can take care of some of these needs themselves. >> nbc's stephanie gosk is live in benghazi. you heard the secretary of state saying as good as things may be in terms of improvement, there's still a lot more that needs to be done. you were with the rebels yesterday traveling with them. tell me what you saw. what's your perspective? >> reporter: still a far cry from being a purely professional military. but we did see some improvements. we found a number of units there that are really in sxhand thcom are former military units for gadhafi and they switched sides when the revolution began back in february. they are trying their best to keep some of the more unpredictable forces in control, keeping them from bursting forward to front line, keeping them also from turning and running. while we were there, the united we were with came under attack. we've seen these scenes before where there will be an air strike and you'll see the rebel forces turn and run. yesterday they actually stayed where they were. we were told there are better communications with nato. that they've been using satellite phone that is are more reliable and also more effective. they're allowed to coordinate with nato, move forward when they know that there are no air strikes and also to avoid things like friendly fire. alex? >> stephanie, i want to ask you about what's going on with misrata -- actually i'm being told you may have dropped out. we'll spare stephanie and hope to get her next hour with more. thank you so much. the nation's top credit card companies say their customers payment habits improved in march. the defaults and late pimts are down for chase, bank of america, citibank, capitol one, discover and american express. a drop in late payments is a good sign. in the last two years there was an uptick in march as cardholders had trouble making their post holiday paymentless. less than two weeks before the most anticipated wedding this year. we have new details on prince william's bride-to-be. meanwhile, practice makes perfect. kate middleton heading to westminster abbey for a rehearsal. joining me is camila tominy. good morning. >> good morning. >> where will kate be staying the night before her wedding and let's talk about the security at that hotel. >> sure. it's not going to be buckingham palace or clarence house. it's going to be the goring hotel which is a very exclusive and comfortable hotel around if corner from burke inning ham palace, staying in a very ornate suite and the whole place will be overrun by police officers, alex. >> you can imagine. what about the practice, the princess-to-be was undertaking at westminster abbey. apparently the prince was not there. >> there was a good stand-in in prince harry. prince william was away with his r.a.f. search and rescue team. kate was there with all of the wedding party. her sister pip pa who is going to be chief brides maid and some of the ung year flower girls and page boys. they had a full run-through with just 13 days to go for the big day. >> does that mean for all eyes peeled to this wedding we should be watching prince william because he's the one most likely to make a mistake because he has not practiced. >> if he hasn't had as many rehearsals as kate, maybe so. let's face it, the most nerve-racking thing about this whole wedding is going to be the long walk down the aisle that kate needs to practice and practice. fingers crossed, i'm sure she won't put a footed wrong. >> how about any nerves about the big balcony kiss that's expected to wrap up the day. what's the big deal with that? >> it's the kind of iconic moment of any royal wedding, the appearance on the balcony at buckingham palace. remember there will be hundreds of thousands watching from the mall in london. really the question is whether they will kiss. we think they probably will. having said that, prince edward, the queen's youngest son didn't kiss sophie, his wife back in 1999. will william and kate? he's quite shy. it's the moment the world will be waiting for. >> i'm sure we will be. what about what we're hearing william having await for kate on the big day? what's that all about? >> the wedding kicks off at 11:00. we don't know yet whether the bride will be fashionably late, although the timing is very military, alex. she'll only have a couple of minutes if she wants to make a slightly late entrance. meanwhile, william will be there with harry by his side as the best man meeting and greeting guests for about 45 minutes. >> do we know about kate's habits thus far? is she the kind of girl who does arrive to things on time? >> well, she's very punctual and quite in control. so i would think that she wouldn't have a massive gap between arriving at the wedding and then making her entrance at westminster abbey. i think really because the timing has to be so precise for security reasons as well, she doesn't get that much leeway. i think maybe two minutes, three at most, that she might turn up. expect her at 11:03, alex. i think that's the safe bet. >> thank you very much for the insight. during these tough economic times, the dollar store is gaining popularity. we'll let you know what you can get in terms of great deals and what to watch out for here on msnbc saturday. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about 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bought in chicago, l.a., washington, d.c., arizona and florida. proper cooking kills the staff germ. the study was done by a non-profit group and is just about to be published. cash-strapped bargain hunters are extending the shelf life of their hard-earned dollars use ag popular destination. that's the dollar store. as gas and food prices continue to rise, the dollar store is fast becoming a go-to spot for price conscious americans. among the great deals are a few dollar duds that consumers should be watching out for. i'm joined by consumer savings expert andrea warrick. hello to you. thanks for joining us. >> good morning. >> let's start with the good stuff. walk us through the best dollar store deals. what are they? >> first, party supplies, decorations, seasonal items, seasonal decorations are a great deal at the dollar store. you're looking at paying 30% to 80% more for items like balloons, seasonal decorations, greeting cards at party supply stores; especially if it's items you're going to end up trashing after a party or the holiday celebration, it's wise to spend less. >> also includes dining supplies, the parp goods, that kind of things. >> paper products, plasticware, all that kind of stuff. >> let's talk about the dollar duds. >> a couple of other great deals, however, look at the kitchen and dining accessories, everything from spoons, spatulas, to cheese greaters and whatnot. you're looking at saving up to 50% on the dollar store. >> also seeing cleaning supplies. >> yes. cleaning supplies. good housekeeping institute actually found that cleaning supplies are a great purchase at the dollar store, although they're not the name brand items. the products may be a little more diluted, but they do the trick for everyday cleaning. >> now let's get to the duds. what are some of the things we should not be going for? >> so you don't want to purchase the electronics, those could be counted fit and unsafe. you want to invest a little more money. cheap batteries. consumer reports has found that those can leak and can damage your gadgets. spend a little more on those. >> why not school supplies? i understand you don't really like those. school supplies you go through that very, very quickly with kids. >> i found those prices are actually the same at stores like walmart and target and the best deals are actually found during back-to-school sales. if you really want to score a bargain on school supplies shop during august and september to really find a great deal. >> okay. that's good advice in terms of the timing. any other advice in terms of finding sweet deals. these are dollar stores and they're hard to beat. there are stores like dollar general that are doing some sweet deals. >> actually dollar general is one of the bigger dollar store chains that's really expanding this year. they're in fact opening up over 600 stores this year alone. what i love about dollar general is they accept coupons. they have their own in-store coupons which you can find online. if you go to a site like couponshirpa.com, you can find a coupon for $5 off your order. you can stack and double up your coupons. you the print manufacturer coupons, use those with the in-store coupons and pair them with those unbeatable deals. you're stretching your dollars and saving a bundle. >> yeah. boy, that sounds great when you think about two coupons for these dollar items. thanks for that. we appreciate that so much andrea. >> thank you so much. is he a serious presidential candidate or a man who seriously knows how to stoke the publicity flames or both? why one political commeligholitr calls donald trump's political run a joke. ahh. my breath feels so fresh, i bet it could last through some artsy foreign film. good idea. let's go. did i just say that out loud? 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[ female announcer ] what will you outlast? donald trump hurled more insults at president obama yesterday, but gave no definitive word on whether he'll seek the oval office. the mogul says he might use the season finale of his hit show "the apprentice" to make the announcement. that announcement would set a future date when he would declare whether he is or is not running. he took questions from reporters in palm beach yesterday. >> i would only run as an independent if the polls were saying i would absolutely win. because i'm so conservative, i would take no votes away from barack obama. i would take a lot of votes away from the republican and that would ensure the election of barack obama, and he's the worst president in the history of the united states. we cannot let that happen. >> charlie cook is an msnbc political analyst and the author of "the cook political report." good morning, charlie. >> good morning, alex. >> what can you say in the wake of donald trump speaking that way? >> i think this is kind of a joke. there are thousands of prominent business leaders around this country, hundreds and hundreds of real estate tycoons that are out there. there's only one donald trump, only one that's been on the movies, on tv shows, has a reality show, a brand of vitamins, that sort of thing. the thing s he's built a brand, a real estate brand. other real estate developers can do buildings or developments and pay him to put his name on it because it adds a cachet. he does everything to feed the celebrity status. that's part of who he is, it's a free country. but the thing is, i think this is nothing more than a publicity stunt on his part. you know, we shouldn't krp it anything more than that. >> do you think this is all about propping up his show "the apprentice." when he talks about making an announcement on the finale to say i will announce on this date, that would pretty much guarantee him a certain level of ratings blockbuster, don't you think? >> it drags it out. the thing is, everything supports the brand. there's no other unique brand in the real estate industry like the trump name. so it's like all good. it builds up the shoerks builds up everything else. the thing is, there's serious people that are running or looking to run for the republican nomination. and i think getting associated with trump basically sort of diminishes the stature of very serious people, people who have been governors of states really are running for president. i feel bad for them to get lumped in -- this field with some of the folks looking at running, talking about it, it could look like the bar scene from "star wars." >> i know exactly the one you're talking about. anyway, the timing here will be, this should all be decided by june so people have enough time to pick up their momentum. but when you talk about those folks looking at this trump brand, if you will, would you see how many people are buying it right now? the latest cnn opinion research poll, trump has doubled his support just since last month. he is tied for the lead for the gop nominee. >> alex, when you talk to republican strategists, democratic strategists, top political reporters, a, trump's name doesn't come up. or if it does, it's with people laughing. this is not something that serious people are seriously talking about. it's just sort of a sideshow thing. and i think it distracts from the serious people that are thinking about running for president. this country is going to select a president next year, and lit be the new one or the same one we've got. there are serious people looking at it. and the trivialization of this whole process, i think it's really kind of sad. >> however, donald trump could run for president. do you think he will? >> no. >> that's it? >> no. >> he's just going to stay being a real estate mogul. >> he's using the celebrity status to build his brand, and it's no more, no less than that. >> okay, charlie cook. we'll see if you're prit pretty soon. we'll see you back here again soon. thanks so much. >> thank you. more than 120 tornadoes have touched down over the past two days throughout the midwest and the south. we'll get the latest on where that storm is headed next with a live report at the top of the hour. it's been 50 years since the pay of pigs invasion in cuba. we'll go live to havana for how cubans are marking this anniversary. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nosebleed, and sore throat. i tossed those allergy symptoms out of my party. 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