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Senator Rand Paul, left, wants to audit the Federal Reserve. Fed chair Janet Yellen, right, has argued the central bank is already audited. Anything more would hurt the central bank's independence.

Paul, a possible Republican presidential contender, has been campaigning to "Audit the Fed." He wants a full review of the financial records of America's central bank -- and its decision making.

The idea is gaining traction on the campaign trail. Paul has raised over $85,000 this week on a website called "Audit the Fed Money Bomb." His goal is $150,000 by next week.

"'Audit the Fed' is about transparency, but the fight is also about restoring fiscal sanity to our nation's checkbook," Paul wrote in an op-ed this week on the conservative website breitbart.com.

The Fed -- and many economists around the country -- are firing back.

"I can think of nothing that would do more damage to our nation's prosperity [than Audit the Fed]," Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in a speech Wednesday.

What kind of audit? The Fed is already audited by both the Government Accountability Office and an independent auditor, but Paul wants the auditors to go a step further and identify where the Fed buys its debt -- something they do not examine now.

This isn't about an audit, Fed officials say, but rather a direct attempt to insert politics into the central bank's decisions on interest rates.

It could have a real impact on Main Street since interest rates effect everything from mortgage and car loan rates to how much interest people earn on money they put in the bank.

Related: Alan Greenspan: The euro is doomed

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Rand Paul wants to 'Audit the Fed.' Why?