protected function sendRequest ()
    {
        phpCAS::traceBegin();

        /*********************************************************
         * initialize the CURL session
        *********************************************************/
        $ch = $this->initAndConfigure();

        /*********************************************************
         * Perform the query
        *********************************************************/
        $buf = curl_exec($ch);
        if ( $buf === false ) {
            phpCAS::trace('curl_exec() failed');
            $this->storeErrorMessage(
                'CURL error #'.curl_errno($ch).': '.curl_error($ch)
            );
            $res = false;
        } else {
            $this->storeResponseBody($buf);
            phpCAS::trace("Response Body: \n".$buf."\n");
            $res = true;

        }
        // close the CURL session
        curl_close($ch);

        phpCAS::traceEnd($res);
        return $res;
    }