I was struggling with this issue as well (High Elf for stats vs. Gnome for looks), but then I found out that
RektYou, who does awesome Enchanter soloing videos on Youtube, has a base Charisma of 95 and still kicks ass (he plays High Elf but didn't put any points into CHA). He does have access to Kunark/Velious gear since he's on Blue, but eventually everyone on Green will too.
So just pick the race that you think looks coolest, and as long as you dump 25 points into CHA and focus on CHA gear you will be fine. Do you really want to be a copy/pasted version of everyone else anyway?