diff --git a/debug.go b/debug.go
index 130a7b0a399..8ffafdab830 100644
--- a/debug.go
+++ b/debug.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ const (
 	Trace = 2
 )
 
-var LogLevel int = 0
+var LogLevel int = Trace //0
 var logger *log.Logger
 
 func init() {
diff --git a/http_transporter.go b/http_transporter.go
index 9e799ff05ca..3fa84d2c8a4 100644
--- a/http_transporter.go
+++ b/http_transporter.go
@@ -91,16 +91,11 @@ func (t *HTTPTransporter) SendAppendEntriesRequest(server *Server, peer *Peer, r
 	var b bytes.Buffer
 	json.NewEncoder(&b).Encode(req)
 
-	traceln("REQ:", b.String())
-
 	url := fmt.Sprintf("http://%s%s", peer.Name(), t.AppendEntriesPath())
 	traceln(server.Name(), "POST", url)
 
 	client := &http.Client{Transport: &http.Transport{DisableKeepAlives: t.DisableKeepAlives}}
-	httpReq, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, &b)
-	httpReq.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
-
-	httpResp, err := client.Do(httpReq)
+	httpResp, err := client.Post(url, "application/json", &b)
 	if httpResp == nil || err != nil {
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -123,10 +118,7 @@ func (t *HTTPTransporter) SendVoteRequest(server *Server, peer *Peer, req *Reque
 	traceln(server.Name(), "POST", url)
 
 	client := &http.Client{Transport: &http.Transport{DisableKeepAlives: t.DisableKeepAlives}}
-	httpReq, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, &b)
-	httpReq.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
-
-	httpResp, err := client.Do(httpReq)
+	httpResp, err := client.Post(url, "application/json", &b)
 	if httpResp == nil || err != nil {
 		return nil
 	}
diff --git a/http_transporter_test.go b/http_transporter_test.go
index 2e06751c86d..ca349c1fed0 100644
--- a/http_transporter_test.go
+++ b/http_transporter_test.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ func TestHTTPTransporter(t *testing.T) {
 		if servers[1].State() != Leader && servers[2].State() != Leader {
 			t.Fatal("Expected re-election:", servers[1].State(), servers[2].State())
 		}
+		server.Initialize()
 		server.StartFollower()
 	}
 	f1 := func(server *Server, httpServer *http.Server) {