CONCORD – State investigators said yesterday progress is being made in a probe of possible illegal push poll telephone calls made in New Hampshire last month that conveyed negative remarks about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and flattering remarks about rival John McCain.

State law requires anyone who engages in push polling to tell the person being surveyed if the call is "being made on behalf of, in support of or in opposition to" a candidate.

According to several people who received the calls, no such candidate identification was made. Similar calls were made in Iowa, which conducts the nation's first presidential caucus.

Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch said he could not discuss details of what he termed a criminal investigation. He put to rest rumors that he and other investigators at the state Department of Justice had wrapped up the probe and were planning a news conference on the topic yesterday.

"We have had some success in obtaining some information but are still attempting to obtain other information," Fitch said. "I cannot predict when (the investigation) will be finished."

In a separate interview, Assistant Attorney General James Kennedy said that he and Fitch at one point "thought we would have something this week. But we are not quite at a point where we can release anything."

Kennedy said it will be at least another week before his office makes any information public.

"We're working on it every day," Kennedy said. "We're being diligent, and we're making progress."

Kennedy said his office has not been in touch with Iowa officials about the calls.

The Attorney General's Office began the investigation following calls to voters in New Hampshire and Iowa that pretended to be opinion polls but then gave negative information about Romney and positive statements about McCain.

McCain has said his campaign had nothing to do with the calls. Romney's campaign also denied any involvement, and both campaigns asked Attorney General Kelly Ayotte for an investigation.

The calls were placed by Western Wats of Orem, Utah, which has been the subject of numerous reports on the Web since the calls were first reported by The Associated Press on Nov. 15.

Some reports have speculated that the Romney campaign actually "push polled" against its own candidate in an attempt to create sympathy for Romney, hurt McCain and inoculate Romney against questions about his Mormon faith. A Romney spokesman has strongly denied these reports.

Western Wats has also conducted polling for the Tarrance Group, which works for candidate Rudy Giuliani, whose campaign has reportedly paid Tarrance $400,000.

The National Review and the Huffington Post have reported that several employees of Western Wats have made donations to the Romney campaign. The Huffington Post also reported that Western Wats has been hired by "several high-profile Romney supporters."

A Web site called Talking Points Memo reported that the Romney campaign confirmed that two Iowa residents who received calls were not only supporters of Romney but were actually on his campaign's payroll.

A Romney spokesman admitted he first portrayed the pair as supporters and not paid campaign workers, but has strongly denied the campaign tried to "push poll" against itself, saying the "insinuation made by the National Review post is highly misleading."

Western Wats issued a statement saying, "Western Wats has never, currently does not, nor will it ever engage in push polling."

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Alexander Gage, the chief executive of TargetPoint Consulting, said today that this story when first published repeated an inaccurate report that Utah-based Western Wats made the alleged push poll calls on behalf of his company. He said TargetPoint “has no involvement whatsoever in these calls and the resulting controversy.”