Bush press spokesman visits White House Press Secretary Siewert

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ari Fleischer, the man who will conduct the daily reporters' briefing in the new Bush administration, came to the White House Friday for pointers from current press secretary Jake Siewert.

After a one-hour meeting in Siewert's office, Fleischer came to the stakeout area just outside the office.

"It was a really helpful, collegial session," he told reporters. "And we talked really as two people who are press secretaries, whose job it is to walk that fine line, serving a boss and serving the press."

They discussed "the nuts and bolts of how a White House press operation should work," Fleischer said, adding that he had already talked to several previous White House press secretaries, including Mike McCurry, Larry Speakes and Marlon Fitzwater.

But the first person he called after being tapped for the job was Helen Thomas, the grande dame of the White House press corps, who has covered every president since Kennedy.