First off I found dead money very enjoyable. The bomb collars, red mist, and holograms every complains about to no end, I barley noticed was even there with the exception of a couple of parts, only one of which was actually hard (the two rooms before the vault). The only thing I found hard the first time through was not having enough stimpacks (there was one point when I actually left with the right joystick stuck up so my health could get back up while I went out for food. On another occasion I actually ran from about a dozen enemies).

Both times going through I was a level thirty character, though the second time I actually built a character for the soul purpose of this expansion. I was wondering if anyone else had done similar things and I think it might be helpful for others (for example both times I was a melee+sneak driven character and had at least the phoenix implant for regeneration and the sub dermal). Hopefully this can also be helpful or first time players of the expansion.
For my second character the perks I picked for the expansion were:

Solar Powered
Toughness (both ranks)
Nerd Rage
Stonewall
Also the Sub dermal (sounds so dirty) and phoenix implant, I also did the old world blues expansion before hand on the second play through.
Basically what I did was make a character who's damage threshold with the assassin suit and bomb collar was 33. With nerd rage kicking in the threshold was a little above 50 I believe, making me next to invincible until combats over and I smoke I cigarette in celebration while my health regenerates.
Of course make sure you're comfortable with melee/unarmed weapons before starting expansion.

High sneak skill with silent running already taken were great for me in this one. I had good unarmed skill with piercing strike perk also luckily when I entered and so I could fight with bear fists when ammo was scarce. As you said, its pretty important to have some mele/unarmed skill for this one.

The second time I played through DM I also took Light Step just before entering which I never ever take but I thought its worth it for DM as you can just forget about all the mines that are everywhere. Also, tho its initially pretty difficult with all the scarce resources and traps, once

Melee/unarmed are key skills IMO. and anything that maximises your healing ability is very helpful, such as that implant and the medicine and survival skills.

I liked this DLC, although I'm not too surprised at the hate for it as it plays like survival horror games of yore. And they were a definite love-or-hate bunch of games.

I'm wondering if I should take Mad Bomber for Dead Money. My current Courier is an Explosives/Guns hybrid, and Explosives should be making short work of Ghost People due to their high chance to cripple limbs, but the only really common Explosive in the entire DLC is the completely ridiculous Gas Bomb.

If you're not planning on using the Holorifle then you could make Mfc Grenades. They're like weaker versions of Plasma Grenades and all you need to make them are 3 Mfc cells. They're also a very good source of income.

Really, I would strongly suggest melee/ unarmed.
It makes short work of the Ghoooooost People.

If you are otherwise covered then I'd suggest you go for mad bomber. I have used it twice now and its a really cool perk. Other than mfc grenades you can also make tin grenades. Just need tin cans and 50 pistol powder for 1. You can break down ten 9mm ammo for that amount I think.. Plus the other stuff like efficient bottlecap mines and nuka mines are nice as well...

Definitely that and light stepper perk!