Please, feel free to remove him.

LANCASTER, Pa., March 29 — Representative Patrick J. Toomey, Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, has been ripping his opponent for being a "Ted Kennedy" liberal, too fond of taxes and spending, too close to activist judges and trial lawyers, too supportive of abortion rights and the United Nations.

Never mind that his opponent, Senator Arlen Specter, is a four-term Republican who has been endorsed by the nation's conservative-in-chief, President Bush. Party cleansing, not party unity, is Mr. Toomey's goal.

"The problem we've got is a handful of Republican senators who never really bought into the idea of the Republican Party in the first place," Mr. Toomey told a group of gray-suited businessmen in this conservative city. "I represent the Republican wing of the Republican Party."

Generously financed by an antitax group, the Club for Growth, Mr. Toomey is giving Mr. Specter his toughest primary since he won election 24 years ago. Mr. Toomey has closed to within 13 points or less, recent polls show, with less than a month left before primary day on April 27.

But while a Specter defeat would be a momentous event in Pennsylvania politics, the race is capturing national attention for another reason. Mr. Specter, 74, is the elder statesman of a dwindling band of centrist Republicans in Congress. In taking him on, Mr. Toomey, 42, and his conservative backers are hoping to send a message to all Republican moderates: turn right or face costly challenges.

"If we beat Specter, we won't have any trouble with wayward Republicans anymore," said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, which has spent nearly $1 million on advertisements criticizing Mr. Specter. The club's members have contributed about $800,000 to Mr. Toomey's campaign.

"It serves notice to Chafee, Snowe, Voinovich and others who have been problem children that they will be next," Mr. Moore said, referring to three moderate Republican senators: Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and George V. Voinovich of Ohio.