PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has given a pep talk to volunteers staffing a Phoenix phone bank for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign

Schultz planned to tell volunteers at Saturday's evening's event that the president's policies have added 4.5 million jobs in the past 29 months. She planned to share his plan to focus on creating a strong middle-class and what she called an economy built to last.

Democrats have said they think they can be competitive in Arizona even though the state hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1996.

Republicans have called such talk a "mirage" and pointed out that Arizona is solidly in the red column.

Schultz is a congresswoman from Florida who is close friends with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.