docs: def _send_query(self, do_post=False, **query_dict):
          """Perform a query against Solr and return the response as a Python dict."""
          # self._prepare_query_term()
          param_dict = query_dict.copy()
          param_dict.setdefault('wt', 'json')
          param_dict.setdefault('q', '*.*')
          param_dict.setdefault('fl', '*')
          return self.query('solr', '', do_post=do_post, query=param_dict)