Is there any easy way to go through the list of models in a preview instead of dragging random ones into the worldspace to see if it is what I need? I had thought about maybe importing the files to blender, but that seems like such a long workaround if it's even possible.

Maybe there is a preview window on the creation kit that I am not seeing?

Right click on an object in the object window, preview. You can then move the preview window away, keep it open, and just cycle through the different objects. When you single click a new one, it will update the preview window.

Thanks much appreciated. This will save tons of time.

Not a problem. It's really easy to completely miss useful things like this in the CK.