Was hurricane Gustav's scaled up to a catergory 3 hurricane in an attempt to create a big story?

Did the US Government know that it was not reall going to be a category 3 hurricane, but scaled it
up to scare the public?

Was it a political move to wipe talk of the Democratic Convention from the airwaves and media?

Was it designed to show how empathetic the Republicans are to the needs of the people?