.config file for kernel-image package?

[Ed Slocomb <ed@eslocomb-3.dsl.speakeasy.net>]

Suppose I wanted to build my own kernel, and I wanted to use the .config 
file used to build a kernel-image package as a starting point.  Where 
would I find that file (or how would I go about creating it) ?

I'm comfortable with make-kpkg, and I've used it to build many a custom 
kernel.  What I'm after here is the .config file that the maintainer 
uses to build kernel-image-*.deb

make-kpkg [config|menuconfig|xconfig] is not the answer to my question :).