Election Tactics Set by Expected Low Turnout : Supervisor race: Gulf War has grabbed the spotlight. Candidates make plans to get backers to the polls on Tuesday.

Hoping to draw attention away from the Persian Gulf long enough for people to vote on Tuesday, the four top candidates in the wide-open race for supervisor in the county’s 1st District donned sturdy shoes and joined 1,000 volunteers to knock on doors from Echo Park to Whittier.

Only 60,000 to 80,000 people are expected to vote in the special election, meaning the winner could be decided by as little as 1,000 votes in a district containing 1.8 million residents and 371,570 registered voters. The supervisor’s race is the only item on the ballot.

Imploring their backers to cast ballots, the candidates launched a last-minute push over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, attending community meetings, phoning longtime supporters and appearing in a flurry of radio and television panel discussions.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina, state Sens. Art Torres and Charles Calderon, and Sarah Flores, former aide to outgoing Supervisor Pete Schabarum, estimated that they will have spent a total of more than $1 million by Tuesday. The two top vote-getters will face off Feb. 19 unless one candidate receives a majority of the vote Tuesday--an unlikely event.

The election was ordered by the courts, which found that the Board of Supervisors had discriminated against Latinos by dividing their vote through redistricting, preventing election of a Latino to the powerful board. The newly drawn district is 71% Latino.

Because the winner automatically will be seen as one of the most powerful Latino politicians in the United States, the race is receiving media coverage in Washington, New York and in national magazines.

Despite recent appearances by most of the candidates on television stations KCET, KCOP and KCBS, along with widespread newspaper and radio coverage in both English and Spanish, there was strong evidence Sunday that many voters are barely aware that an election is coming.

“For a historic election in Los Angeles County, the voter interest is minimal,” said Eric Rose, campaign manager for Flores. “You’ve got the Persian Gulf riveting people, and all the recent holidays. Many . . . are not aware that there is any special election.”

Mt. Washington resident Jean Roth seemed to epitomize the feelings of even active voters.

“This is January--what are we doing voting in January?” she said. “I have all these mailers from candidates, and I haven’t read them.”

According to county officials, only 2,127 new voters districtwide have signed up to participate in Tuesday’s election. Although the candidates have tried to persuade people to vote by mail, only about 14,400 absentee ballots had been mailed back by Thursday.

To counteract the soft voter interest, candidates said that on Tuesday they will send busloads of volunteers to precincts where supporters live, urging them to go to the polls and giving them rides to polling places.

“This election has faced more obstacles than any I have ever seen,” said Torres campaign manager Dee Dee Myers. “Our sole mission Tuesday is to knock on as many doors and make as many phone calls as possible.”

Torres (D-Los Angeles) and Flores spent the weekend meeting with groups such as ethnic and senior citizen organizations, while Molina and Calderon (D-Whittier) spent virtually every daylight hour walking precincts to meet voters face to face.

In a bid for publicity in the crucial last days, Torres held a press conference in Silver Lake on Sunday with dozens of young soccer players and called for the 1992 World Cup to be held in Los Angeles.

Flores, meanwhile, prepared her volunteers for a final get-out-the-vote drive utilizing walkie-talkies and cellular phones.

“This is going to be a high-tech effort,” said Rose.

In Pico Rivera, Molina and U.S. Rep. Esteban Torres (D-La Puente), an old friend, approached residents as they watered lawns and sat in their living rooms watching events in the gulf.

“Are you the Jehovah’s Witnesses?” asked one wary resident, who grinned sheepishly after recognizing Molina.

“My whole family’s voting for you!” cried out Yolanda Rodeghier, who spotted Molina approaching browsers at a yard sale.

Walking door-to-door in Baldwin Park and El Monte, Calderon found many supporters--as well as many undecided.

“It’s real positive stuff out there,” Calderon said, “but we and everyone else are eyeing the undecideds.”

Said Calderon campaign manager Dina Huniu: “People are going to pick their candidate in between watching the news, or they are just going to ignore the election.”