Senator Clinton brought one of her biggest fund-raising assets, her husband, to Midtown Manhattan last night for an event that raised well over $1 million for her presidential campaign.

Mr. Clinton used the event — the first major fund-raiser that the two appeared at together — to praise the former first lady and remind her supporters that she was the face of America in many overseas countries when he was in the White House.

He also recalled that the two met “36 years ago this month” and chronicled her days in public service, which he said date back to when she graduated from law school and took a job at the Children’s Defense Fund instead of at a high-paying law firm.

“If you were a woman with a degree from Yale or Harvard you could have whatever job you wanted when you got out of law school,” he told a crowd of more than 1,000 people in a second floor ballroom at the Sheraton.

Mrs. Clinton hit on all of the themes of her stump speech, including ending the Iraq war, improving America’s standing with the international community, passing universal health care, and moving toward energy independence.

Standing in the center of room on a talk-show style stage, she said the 2008 election would be a “defining moment in American history” and that as president she would repair relations with worldwide allies.

“We will need a president who will reach out to the rest of the world immediately and say that America is back,” she said. “The days of ignoring you… are over.”

She also joked about her husband walking around with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs and recalled how she rolled her eyes when her late father would go around turning off lights in her house. Now, she said: “I turn off the light and I say ‘Take that Iran, take that Venezuela!'”

The event committee also included high-profile names like comedian Chevy Chase, director Ron Howard, and longtime Clinton supporter Alan Patricof.

Mr. Howard told The New York Sun that he hadn’t made any decisions about who to support yet and that he had already been to a fundraiser for Senator Obama. But he called her “extraordinary,” and said that “it’s going to be an important to have a change in party leadership in 2008.”

The presence of Mr. Clinton comes while Mrs. Clinton is sliding in the polls. It is just one indication that the campaign is shifting into fifth gear with just weeks to go until the fund-raising quarter comes to an end on March 31. Until now he has been raising money for her at smaller events on his own and at house parties.

The two will headline another big fund-raiser in Washington, D.C. tomorrow night. Mrs. Clinton will also squeeze in fund-raisers with billionaire Ron Burkle in Los Angeles over the weekend, and in Miami with hip-hop musician “Timbaland” before the end of the month.

Last week, one of the Clinton’s biggest fund-raising titans, John Catsimatidis, of Gristedes’ supermarket fame, raked in $200,000 for the campaign at his Upper East Side home with Mr. Clinton as the draw.

Tickets last night went for $1,000, $2,300, and $4,600 a head.