Corkyg,
Yes, you can make a spousal IRA contribution in this situation.

However, you will be "using" $6,000 of his earned income to do this, which means his IRA contribution will be limited to counting only the remaining $2,500. In other words, under the spousal IRA rules you can count his earned income towards your IRA contribution or his IRA contribution, but not both.

You can see more about spousal IRA contributions at: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/021903.asp

I hope that helps a little!