Jones had a big hand in Barack Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate win by introducing the then little-known liberal state senator to the right people and letting him handle some important legislation to help raise his political profile. In 2008, Jones at first refused to call the Senate into session to vote on ethics legislation that had passed the House, saying that the 15-day limit for the Senate to look at the legislation didn't come into effect until the Senate came back into session. After Obama urged Jones to change his mind, Jones released a statement saying he would call the Senate into session, saying in a statement: "I plan to call the Senate back into session to deal with the issue of ethics, only at the request of my friend Barack Obama. I still stand by our interpretation of the 15-day rule."