FLC Announces Payment of September Dividend and Declaration of October Dividend

  
    
  
  
    
      The Board of Directors of Flaherty & Crumrine/Claymore Total Return Fund 
      Incorporated (NYSE: FLC) announced the payment of the September dividend 
      of $0.1365 per share payable to stockholders of record on September 23, 
      2008 and the declaration of a dividend of $0.1225 per share for the 
      month of October.
    
    
      The terms of the Fund’s Articles Supplementary 
      Establishing and Fixing the Rights and Preferences of the Auction Market 
      Preferred Stock required the Fund to delay the payment of its September 
      common stock dividend because certain asset coverage requirements were 
      not met. Those requirements have now been met for both the payment of 
      the September dividend and the declaration of the October dividend.
    
    
      The reduction in the Fund’s asset coverage had 
      been the result of declining market values for the Fund’s 
      assets, which consist primarily of preferred securities. The market 
      values of preferred securities, along with most other fixed income 
      securities, have been experiencing substantial declines as a result of 
      the ongoing financial crisis. Last week’s 
      uncertainty of a U.S. government rescue plan further severely disrupted 
      the securities markets and the valuations of the financial companies 
      which are the primary issuers of preferred securities. The Fund expects 
      to continue to work towards meeting asset coverage requirements on an 
      ongoing basis so that dividends can be paid and declared. However, there 
      can be no guarantee that the Fund will be able to meet such asset 
      coverage requirements.
    
    
      The October dividend is expected to be paid on October 31, 2008 to 
      holders of record of each Fund’s Common Stock 
      on October 24, 2008. The expected ex-dividend date is October 22, 2008. 
      The Fund has reduced the amount of the dividend from earlier levels as a 
      result of its recent de-leveraging in response to declining market 
      values for the Fund’s assets.
    
    
      FLC was organized in 2003 as a closed-end, diversified investment 
      company. FLC invests primarily in preferred and other 
      income-producing securities with a primary investment objective of high 
      current income and a secondary objective of capital appreciation. FLC 
      is managed by Flaherty & Crumrine Incorporated, an independent 
      investment adviser which was founded in 1983 to specialize in the 
      management of portfolios of preferred and related securities.
    
    
      Website: www.fcclaymore.com