Here’s Santorum on LOTR on his book It Takes a Family:

I’m a great fan of The Lord of the Rings. My family and I have read all the books and watched the entire film trilogy. Both the books and the movies celebrate that which is best in man–a willingness to sacrifice one’s own life for a greater good, to persevere despite seemingly insurmountable odds. It is inspiring, and it is true: human beings really can achieve heroism. Human greatness is possible.

Santorum of course knows something about how “to persevere despite seemingly insurmountable odds”–for the third time, he’s running a race that few people expect him to survive. The first two times, in 1990 for the House and in 1994 for the Senate, he did in fact win.