Michael Bitzer is a political scientist in North Carolina.

Most mornings, he wakes up early, pours himself a strong cup of tea, and examines the state's

vote-by-mail numbers. In fact, that's what he was doing last Friday, when he realized

the president had tested positive for the coronavirus.

And I thought, this is going to be an interesting Friday.

And lo and behold, it turned out to be that in spades.

Michael's Friday got interesting, not because of what was happening in Washington per se,

but because of the way the White House COVID cluster ended up reverberating in his state.

All day long, he watched as more of the Republican power structure began testing positive.

Senator Mike Lee from Utah, former presidential aide, Kellyanne Conway.

And it finally came to light.

I believe it was around 7 o'clock Friday night after surviving most of the day that

Senator Tillis tested positive as well.

Your senator?

Yes, the North Carolina U.S. senator who's up for re-election.

My phone started to blow up and reporters started calling.

And I did my last interview at a little bit before 10 o'clock that night and decided I'm shutting off my phone and going to bed because I've

got to get a good night's sleep.

Little did I realize I would wake up the next morning to the news that Senator Tillis's

challenger, Democratic candidate Cal Cunningham, acknowledged a texting affair.

Let me just go over that timeline one more time.

Within a few hours, Senator Tom Tillis tested positive for the coronavirus.

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