There have been efforts to draft Chris Christie as a presidential candidate for quite awhile. But Politico’s Ben Smith calls this a “serious” one, noting that the GOP donors involved “are people who matter in Iowa.” A delegation of top donors from the state will head to New Jersey to meet with Christie at the end of the month, the governor’s chief of staff told the AP:

Bruce Rastetter, an Iowa energy company executive, and a half-dozen other prominent Iowa GOP donors sought the meeting with Christie, the governor’s chief political adviser, Mike DuHaime, told The Associated Press. The get-together is set for the governor’s mansion in Princeton, N.J., on May 31.

The AP points out that the meeting is “unusual because candidates typically court Iowans, who get the first say in presidential nominating contests, and not the other way around.”

This is yet another sign that Republicans are getting anxious about the lack of serious candidates stepping up for 2012. And the embarrassingly sparse GOP debate last week probably added to this sense of desperation. If a Republican favorite like Christie or Paul Ryan jumped into the ring, it would bring a much-needed punch of energy to the race.