Controversy Erupts Over Anti-Romney "Poll"

N.H. Begins Investigation Into Calls In N.H., Iowa Raising Questions About Romney And Mormons

(CBS/AP)  New Hampshire's attorney general is investigating phone calls to voters that pretend to be opinion polls but then undercut presidential contender Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith - and make favorable statements about Republican rival John McCain.

McCain says they're not his doing and he wants them stopped. Romney says it's a religious attack and "un-American."

CBS News asked Romney whether he was surprised that this happened and whether he'd been expecting it.

"You know I have seen over the last several weeks more and more reports of emails, of literature being passed out and now push polls which attack me on the basis of my religion and I think that's very very disappointing and un-American."

McCain said of the phone calling, "It is disgraceful, it is outrageous, and it is a violation, we believe, of New Hampshire law." His campaign asked the attorney general to investigate, and McCain, campaigning Friday in Colorado, asked other candidates to join in the request.

One McCain adviser, Chuck Douglas, said "we believe it is being done by one of the other campaigns. We don't know which one."

"I am outraged by the cowardly telephone calls that hide behind my name in an effort to disparage one candidate and advance the candidacy of another," McCain added in a statement. "I was a target of these same tactics in South Carolina in 2000 and believe the American people deserve better from those who seek the high office of the presidency."

Romney also blasted campaign finance legislation sponsored by McCain in his response to the calls, reports CBS News' Scott Conroy.

“I'm very disappointed in the political process that someone is pursuing to use this kind of underhanded, un-American technique to try and influence a political campaign," Romney said. "And in that regard, you have to look back at the legislation that’s known as McCain-Feingold."

"The monster is this McCain-Feingold bill and it has to be repealed. This points out just how ineffective it has been in removing the influence of money and underhanded politics," Romney added. "In some respects it's kind of ironic that Senator McCain is filing that request for an investigation. Senator McCain is the father of McCain-Feingold and it's McCain-Feingold that opens the pathway for this very kind of political technique."

McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker took issue with the link to the McCain-Feingold law.

"It is appalling, but not surprising, that Mitt Romney would seek to take advantage of this disturbing incident to launch yet another hypocritical attack," she said.

Western Wats, a Utah-based company, placed the calls that initially sound like a poll but then pose questions that cast Romney in a harsh light, according to people who received the calls. In politics, this type of phone surveying is called "push polling" - contacting potential voters and asking questions intended to plant a message, usually negative, rather than gauging attitudes.

A spokesman for the company would not comment on whether it made the calls. However, its client services director, Robert Maccabee, said, "Western Wats has never, currently does not, nor will it ever engage in push polling."

The 20-minute calls started on Sunday in New Hampshire and Iowa. At least seven people in the two early voting states received the calls, some as recently as Thursday.

Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch said New Hampshire has never prosecuted a case involving such calls but was moving forward. He cautioned against expecting an immediate resolution.

"Generally, these investigations can take at least several days and sometimes several weeks," Fitch said.