CONCORD – A legal battle over business records of the company hired to conduct an alleged push poll has delayed the last stage of a state investigation, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said yesterday.

New Hampshire voters who received the calls in question said the callers conveyed negative remarks about former Gov. Mitt Romney and flattering remarks about fellow Republican Sen. John McCain.

Ayotte's office opened the probe in November when she received complaints from McCain and Romney.

Ayotte said she had hoped to announce results of the investigation before Tuesday's New Hampshire presidential primary. She took the unusual step yesterday of asking the public to come forward with any information they have regarding the poll.

"Voters deserve to know whether any presidential candidate violated New Hampshire's law by conducting this poll," she said.

A court fight for business records of Moore Information Systems, an Oregon polling company, put a crimp in Ayotte's plan for a report before Primary Day. On Wednesday, a hearing on a subpoena for the records -- which would include e-mails -- was scheduled for Jan. 16 in Oregon.

Push polls typically are disguised as impartial opinion polls, which then diverge into attempts to sway a voter to support or reject a specific candidate. State law says any push poll has to identify the candidate the call is in support of, on behalf of or in opposition to, and to give the phone number of the polling office.

The Romney and McCain camps exchanged volleys over the calls after Ayotte's plea for the public's help. A McCain campaign official said Romney was somehow involved, and Romney's people demanded an apology.

Ayotte said she knows now who developed the poll's script and timing, and who made the calls, but not who paid for them.

Moore Information told her office through its legal counsel that it was hired to conduct the poll and set dates, for which calls were placed over four days beginning about Nov. 14. Ayotte's office has also determined that Western Wats, a company in Orem, Utah, actually made the calls, which were completed to about 400 homes. A subpoena for Western Wats records led investigators to Moore.

Moore Information's Web site advertises a long list of Republican clients, including Bush-Cheney campaigns in 2000 and 2004, the Bush-Quayle and Dole-Kemp campaigns, the Republican Governors Association and the Republican National Committee.

New Hampshire's laws against push polling do not apply to the Presidential Primary, but Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch said yesterday that questions asked in a poll may be groundwork for the general presidential election in November. If the push poll was used to prepare for the general election, he said, then it could be covered by state law.

The 400 completed calls led to a 264-page detailed survey report from Western Wats to Moore Information, Ayotte said.

McCain campaign state vice-chairman, former U.S. Rep. Chuck Douglas, said a report that detailed indicates "serious money." He challenged other Republican campaigns to swear that they had nothing to do with the affair. He said that with the money involved and ties to Utah, "I think all fingers point to Romney."

Romney Campaign Manager Beth Myers quickly denied it, saying, "It is reckless, irresponsible and egregious for the McCain campaign to even mention the Romney campaign in relation to these calls. If they have any proof, let's see it. If not, Senator McCain should immediately apologize for the actions of his own campaign."

Ayotte said the polling investigation is not related to calls by Common Sense Issues made on behalf of Republican Mike Huckabee. Calls from that group identified the candidate on whose behalf they were made.