If the officer asks for permission to search, I would object. it is an intrusion and not a courtesy of him to ask and I would be respectful in replying. By then, he's made up his mind to ticket if he wants to search. Often the traffic stop is a pretextual to search and you are going to get a ticket regardless. It supports the pretext or reason he stopped. And yes, it's the principle. As for "if you have nothing to hide, why not consent." Stop thinking like a cop who wants to search someone's car. wink
Trooper Benji was in the papers often back in the Operation Pipeline days. I'd heard that a contract was placed on his head by the drug lords back in the day.