White House hails 'DeBlasio,' correction follows

President Barack Obama in a statement Wednesday applauded Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio for their "major victory" on expanding prekindergarten, but the news release misspelled de Blasio's name.

A statement attributed to the White House press secretary gave the mayor's name as "DeBlasio." It was quickly corrected in an online version, and a corrected email was sent about 45 minutes later.

The statement said Obama was asking Congress to make preschool universally available nationwide, as an Albany budget agreement envisioned for New York State.

A mayoral spokeswoman declined to comment on the spelling error.