The Bloomberg campaign rolled out another set of television spots yesterday, this time in English, reminding voters that Mayor Bloomberg took the reins when New York City appeared to be in its darkest hours: the days after the September 11, 2001 attack.

“People didn’t know if they would have a job,” one New Yorker laments of the days after the towers fell.

The camera cuts to Mr. Bloomberg. “Smoke was still coming out of the World Trade Center,” the mayor, wearing a soft beige sweater and suede jacket, says as he recalls how cold it was when he was sworn in January 2002 and how much the city had to face.

Yesterday’s ads follow two Spanish language spots Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign team started airing Tuesday on Hispanic cable stations. Those ads focus on education and safety, and feature Mr. Bloomberg speaking Spanish.

Over the week, New York viewers can see what $1 million will buy. Mr. Bloomberg spent that much of his own money for this 10-day ad buy.

“Isn’t it nice to have money,” a political consultant, Scott Levenson, told The New York Sun. “It is a little disingenuous to say four years ago you needed to build up name recognition and now say you have to spend just as much to tout his record.

“When money is infinite and spending more increases the likelihood of reelection, why wouldn’t he?” Mr. Levenson continued. “He is trying to build as broad as victory as possible. He wants to win by a large margin.”

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Despite styling himself an ideas driven, outside-the-box underdog, mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has tapped into the national Democratic Party establishment for one of his top aides, announcing yesterday that he had hired a former Clinton-Gore consultant, Michael Whouley, to oversee his campaign’s field operations.

The Weiner team also added a local consultant, Mark Benoit, as campaign manager. Mr. Benoit has worked on the campaigns of, among others, the New York City public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, and Mayor Dinkins.

In recruiting Mr. Whouley, the Queens-Brooklyn congressman said, he made “a winning addition to a winning campaign.” Most recently, Mr. Whouley was the general election director at the Democratic National Committee during Senator Kerry’s frustrated bid for the presidency last year. During the 2000 presidential race the consultant was an adviser to Vice President Gore’s campaign.

A Democratic consultant in the city, Hank Sheinkopf, labeled Mr. Weiner’s recruitment of Mr.Whouley “brilliant.” Going with a big-name national figure, Mr. Sheinkopf said, was an unexpected move. “Usually, New York guys think they can put their own field operations together,” he said.

Mr. Weiner said the addition to his staff of a figure from the Democratic establishment would not alter his distinctive campaign-trail persona, characterized by off-the-cuff commentary and a willingness to spar verbally with opponents and voters at speaking engagements. Mr. Whouley, the candidate stressed, was part of his “field operation,” not the communications team.

Mr. Weiner also cautioned against making too much of the additions to his staff. “The big news of my campaign,” he said, “is me.”