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There's only so much spotlight to go around, and all seven candidates will be fighting for it. | Getty Who spoke the longest in the GOP debate?

There seemed to be multiple debates happening at once Saturday night: governors against members of Congress; Ted Cruz against a sour Iowa caucuses aftertaste; Marco Rubio against spontaneity.

Viewers had fun with Rubio's repetition: a Twitter account called @RubioGlitch took off during the debate, and one person noted that Rubio had failed the Turing Test.

And as promised, air time was at a premium, and it was hotly contested. Donald Trump resorted to "shushing" Jeb Bush during one exchange. (Bush, whose own mother implored him this week to do more interrupting, stopped talking until Trump was finished.)

In the end, however, all those pauses added up, and Cruz came away with the longest talk time: 18 minutes, 13 seconds.

John Kasich, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie had all staked much of their campaign fortunes to strong outcomes in New Hampshire. But all of them trailed Rubio and Cruz in the polls, and the three frontrunners were able to take the top three spots in total speaking time.

All the candidates appeared to use this debate to signify they're in the home stretch. Ben Carson, who spoke the least by two minutes, used his closing statement to rebuke those who have tried to spell his ultimate doom. This could have been the final debate for at least a few of the lower-polling members of the race. Google searches for "Will Jeb Bush drop out?" skyrocketed tonight.

Christina Animashaun contributed.