The top three Democratic candidates below standard-bearer Barack Obama in western Iowa campaigned in Carroll today with a message that veered from cautionary tale and strutting oratory as polls shows Democrats high in the cat-bird’s seat in the Hawkeye State just days before the election.

“John McCain, I won’t say he’s toast, but he’s rapidly approaching English muffin territory,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, in remarks at the Moose Lodge in downtown Carroll before an audience of about 30 party activists.

That said, Harkin warned of a complacency that can come with overconfidence.

“I remember what happened to the last guy who put up a ‘mission accomplished’ sign before the mission was accomplished,” Harkin said, in reference to President George W. Bush’s infamous declaration of victory in Iraq in May of 2003 aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

With Obama on the cusp of being elected to the White House, Harkin, who has been in Congress since 1974, said he’s about to see history.

“I thought maybe I’d never live to see it in my lifetime,” Harkin said. “The people of America are now judging him (Obama) by the content of his character.”

Harkin noted that Obama’s first real introduction to Iowans on the ground came during the Iowa senator’s annual steak fry, not last year during the caucuses but in 2006 at the Warren County Fairgrounds in Indianola.

Gov. Chet Culver said Democrats having “everything going our way.”

With 240,000 votes already cast in early balloting, the Democrats have a major advantage, Culver said, noting that there are 100,000 more registered Democrats in Iowa.

“We have a big tent,” Culver said. “Our party is very inclusive.”

Harkin and Culver both made strong pitches for Democratic congressional candidate Rob Hubler, who also spoke in Carroll.

“A Democrat can win the district,” Harkin said. “I think this is the year to do it.”

For his part, Hubler pledged to focus heavily on renewable energy development — not peddle more oil as King has done. Hubler also said that he would be stylistically and substantively far different from King, who often peacocks with provocative statements.

“They (Iowa’s Fifth District) want a servant, not a King,” Hubler said.